
Glass 
Book. 



THE LAST DAYS OF THE 
ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 




Photograph : Stanley's Press Agency. 



THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH, AGED 30, 



THE LAST DAYS OF THE 
ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 



EDITED BY 



HAMIL GRANT 

AUTHOR. OF 
" SPIES AND SECRET SERVICE 



% 



WITH SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 



NEW YORK 
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1916 



-P.S ! 



\> 



PRINTED BY 

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter I ...... 17 

Concerning Myself and my Family — The Education of a 
Cosmopolitan — Feldkirch, Stonyhurst, the Sorbonne, 
Milan — The Making of a Democrat — Viennese Society and 
the Intellectuals — Kaiser Franz Josef and his Heir — A 
Constructive King — Bismarck and his Plans for Prussia — 
Rudolph's Popularity 

Chapter II . . . . .28 

Fears of Austrian Landowners — I possess my Uncle's 
Confidence — Am appointed Imperial Messenger — Join 
Austrian Embassy in London — Oberon's Lincolnshire 
and Gamecock's National — I return to Vienna with the 
Archduke 

Chapter III ...... 39 

Secretary to the Archduke Rudolph — His Fascinating 
Personality and Ability — Our Visit to Berlin — A Future 
King and a Future Kaiser — Prince William of Prussia and 
his Clique — The Pan-German Idea — Berlin's Fear of 
Rudolph's Popularity aftd-JEljestige **^ '" '- "*"" 

Chapter IV . . . . .52 

The Prussian Royal Family — Intrigues respecting the 
Succession — The Crown Prince's Malady — The Crown 
Princess Victoria — The Heir-Presumptive' s Attitudes — 
Albert Edward and Rudolph — A Curious Wager — 
Rudolph's Opinion of Albert Edward — Albert Edward's 
Complaint of the Press 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter V ...... 65 

An Old Acquaintance in Berlin — I meet Prince Bismarck 
— His Friend Orloff — Bismarck's Secret Agents — 
Rudolph's Opinion of Bismarck — My Regard for the 
Chancellor 

Chapter VI . . . . .80 

The Kulturkampf in Germany — Position of the Catholic 
Body — Prussian Official Salons — Austria's National Party 
and the Vatican — Kaiser Franz Josef's Life Story — 
Rudolph's Rationalism — His Ideas about Religion 

Chapter VII ...... 96 

The Vetsera Family in Vienna — Their Levantine Origin — 
The Empress Elizabeth and Marie Vetsera — " Home- 
Day " at the Hofburg — Love, Immortality and a Cross- 
Examination — I discourse to my Master of Love and 
" Residual Forces " — The Archduke and Women — Con- 
fessional — Madame de Stael and Napoleon 

Chapter VIII ...... 109 

The Viennese Woman — Concerning Mademoiselle — Her 
Attraction for Rudolph — Archduke taboos Women in 
Politics — Baroness Larricarda's Salon — Changes in Social 
Vienna — I become a Visitor at the Baroness's — Germans 
in Viennese and European Society — I meet KoinofLagajh 
— A Conversation at my Rooms ' — ~""^ 

Chapter IX ...... 121 

Some Capitals compared — London that was — Anglo- 
French Characteristics — Social Changes in England and 
Some Causes — Queen Victoria's Jubilee of 1887 — The 
Archduke's Party in Paris — His Attitude towards Sub- 
ordinates — Reception by the English Court — Attitude of 
British People towards their Royal Family — Upper, 
Middle and Lower Classes — Women's Social Mania — The 
Archduke and Prince William of Prussia — An Apt Retort 



CONTENTS 9 

PAGE 

Chapter X ..... . 135 

I go into Chambers in Vienna during my Master's Absence 
— An Unexpected Visit from Koinoff — A Question of 
Finance — Koinoff 's Nationality — His Career, Present and 
Past — I am willing to accommodate him — Koinoff as 
" Tommy Atkins " — How he beat a Prussian Spy — 
Koinoff and his Honour — A Success at Cards 

Chapter XI . . . . . 146 

Kinsky arrives in Vienna — Occupies my Flat — We discuss 
the Crown Prince Frederick's Malady — Also the Future 
Kaiser, Wilhelm II. — His Napoleonomania — Professor 
Buckle's Ideas — -Prince Henry of Prussia and a Danseuse 
— To Berlin for the Obsequies of the Emperor William I. 
— I meet Count Herbert Bismarck — Prince William's Dis- 
like of Herbert — The Dismissal of Ministers considered — 
Napoleon's Mistakes — Fascination of all the Bismarcks — 
Herbert a Misanthrope — A Choice of Emperors — Hoping 
for the Best — I study some Enigmas — Meeting with 
Wolfram 

Chapter XII ...... 158 

San Remo's Crowd of Notables — Physicians and Surgeons 
— Sir Morell Mackenzie — Political Aspects of Frederick's 
Malady — His Consort's Intervention — What History will 
say of Frederick's Death — Bismarck's Russophilism — An 
Imperial Counsel — Bismarck's Press-Agency Work — 
Austrian and English Views — Foresight of Two Heirs- 
Apparent — Real Greatness of King Edward — A Romanoff 
Grand Duke — Rudolph's Independence of Character — 
German Gutter-Press Stories — The Archduke's Title 
to Respect — His Versatility — An Essay and Some 
Correspondence 

Chapter XIII ...... 174 

Return to Laxenburg Castle — Kaiser Franz's Unexpected 
Visit to his Son — The Rudolph-Vetsera Liaison — 
Rudolph's Loyalty to his Sire — Promise to give up Marie 



10 CONTENTS 

Chapter XIII — continued PAGE 

Vetsera — Rudolph and his Mother — Alleged Appeal by 
the Archduke for Divorce — Prussia's Conquest-Manias — ■ 
My Turf Successes — Koinoff visits me again — His Gaming 
Transactions — Count Potocki's Visit — Koinoff's Story of 
a Mysterious Letter — Bismarck will do no Murder — Ich 
bin kein sicarius — Who is implicated in Berlin's Mur- 
derous Intrigues — Question of the Vatican — The Secular 
Arm — A New Man and New Measures in Berlin — The 
most Pathetic Kind of Mediocrity 

Chapter XIV . . . • . . 189 

Berlin in July 1888 — A City of Martial Law — Return of 
Wolfram to Vienna — What Kinsky's Cousin had to relate 
— His Friend the Bocher — Berlin's Money-lenders and 
their Satellites — Evidence of Inside Information — Forg- 
ing the Archduke's Handwriting — A Forged Letter from 
Rudolph — On the Trail of the Enemy— Intentions of 
Militarists in Berlin — Ineptitude of Berlin's Agents — 
Sharps versus Flats — Clerics and Conspirators — Prince 
Henry's New-found Importance — Bismarck and Im- 
ponderabilia — The Great Imponderable — Natural End 
of Pork-eaters — Politico-Spiritual Role of the Vatican — 
Austria and the Omens 

Chapter XV ...... 203 

Wolfram, Christiane and Prince Henry — The Prussian 
Prince's Threats — Lazarus suggests a "Reconciliation" 
— Kaiser Wilhelm's Various Poses — His Brother's Equally 
Simian Characteristics — Henry's Affectation of Sailor-like 
Simplicity — Christiane returns to her old Lover — What 
she seeks to discover — Plays on Henry's Vanity — Anti- 
pathy of the Imperial Brothers towards Rudolph — The 
Vatican's Enigmatical Role — Monsignore Galimberti's 
Aspirations — Christiane's Flight to Vienna — Our Pre- 
cautions to protect Rudolph — His Horror of being 
" Policed " — Vienna Foreign Office's Ignorance — The Case 
of Marie Vetsera — Her Regard for Rudolph — Koinoff 
avoids me — A Successful Double-Event — Rudolph's Debts 
and Creditors — Where Berlin came in 



CONTENTS 11 

PAGE 

Chapter XVI ...... 218 

Chez Madame Larricarda — Unpopularity of Myself — 
Prussians attend her Receptions in Large Numbers — 
Koinoff a Noteworthy Absentee — Bombelles and Myself — 
My Last Visit to the Baroness Larricarda's — Some Ac- 
complishments I possess — A Contretemps in the Card- 
room — A Stiff Retort — Am summoned to the Archduke's 
Study — Proposed Visit to Meyerling — I am given a Holi- 
day — The Archduke on Game-shooting — The Prince on 
my Vigilance — What His Highness knew — A Healthy 
Habsburg Instinct — A Direct Warning from Marie Vet- 
sera — The Archduke's Courage — His Hope for Austria's 
Future — The Triple Alliance in Practice — The Arch- 
duke's Opinion of Wilhelm II. — England's World-Role — 
" Carthage must be destroyed " — His Hopes for Social 
Democracy — Prince Philip of Coburg 

Chapter XVII ...... 232 

Prince Rudolph as Sportsman — His Exploits in Danubian 
Countries — A Student of Zoological Traits — Some De- 
ductions from his Studies — An Emersonian Bias — Game- 
hunting in German Countries — A Chapter from Cornhill 
— A Favourite Keeper — The Ritual of Deer-hunting — 
Tracking the Roe — Placing the Guns — Beaters at Work 
— Routing out the Game — Some Democratic Touches — 
Congratulations on Sportsmanship — A Processional 
Return Homewards — The Song of the Beaters 



Chapter XVIII ..... 242 

Prince Rudolph's alleged Suicidal Mania — The Philo- 
sophy of Suicides — Pessimists and Optimists — Napoleon's 
Ideas on Suicide those of the Archduke — Reasons against 
the Theory of Prince Rudolph's Suicide — 26th January 
1889 — The Archduke's Ideas about German Actors and 
the Theatre in General — '• Elemental Men and Simians " 
— An Improvised Comedy — The Archduke as Stage 
Napoleon — Bismarck and Playgoers — Ideas about Music 



12 CONTENTS 

Chapter XVIII — continued PAOE 

" Cleverly harmonised Rumpus " — Wagner's Hypnotic 
Powers — A Theory of Success in Life — Wagner and the 
Artistic Temperament — Archducal Ideas on Painting and 
Literature — A Visit to the Rubens Gallery — Art and a 
Physiological Question 

Chapter XIX ...... 255 

The Crown Lands of Baden — The Schloss of Meyerling — 
Formerly a Cistercian Convent — The Archducal Apart- 
ments — Late Hours at the Lodge — A Message from His 
Highness — A Visit to the Hofburg Library — I meet Wol- 
fram — Decide on a Sojourn at Heiligen Kreuz — A Rencontre 
at the Southern Station — Another Surprise at Baden — A 
Walk to Heiligen Kreuz — Herr Wirt of the Gasthaus — His 
Archducal Visitor — A Bottle of Tokay — A Rough Quart- 
ette of Prussians — My Landlord's Recollections — The 
Witch of Alland — A Prophecy to Kaiser Franz — My 
Servant fails me — Only appears at Breakfast-time — His 
Adventures in the Night — The Road to Meyerling and 
back to the Kreuz 

Chapter XX. . . . . . . 275 

The Pine-woods round Heiligen Kreuz — An Unexpected 
Rencontre — Dr Widerhofer of Vienna — He announces the 
Murder of the Archduke and Marie Vetsera — How Baden 
got the News — We go on to the Lodge — Some Official 
Declarations and Discrepancies — Joseph Bratfisch's State- 
ments — An Impromptu Entertainment — The Morning of 
30th January — Bratfisch and his Master — How the Bodies 
were found — I visit the Death-chamber — My Importance 
ceases — A Conversation with Bratfisch — The Alleged 
Letters of Prince Rudolph — My Wirt arrives — I return to 
Heiligen Kreuz — A Sad Special to Vienna — Burial of the 
Crown Prince Rudolph — Koinoff's Last Letter 

Epilogue ...... 285 

Index . . . . . . . 287 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Archduke Rudolph, aged 30, 1888 . Frontispiece 
The Archduke Rudolph, aged 24, 1882 To face page 36 
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 1887 . ,, 60 

Mademoiselle Marie Vetsera, January 1888 
Prince Bismarck in Retirement, 1890 
Mademoiselle Vetsera, January 1889 
In the Chapelle Ardente . 



/ 



no / 
186 



214 , 
280 



13 



PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS 

The Archduke Rudolph: Crown Prince of Austria- 
Hungary, born at Laxenburg Castle, Vienna, 1858, 
found dead at Meyerling Schloss, 30th January 
1889. Universally admitted to have been one of the 
most intellectual princes in Europe in his day ; a keen 
politician and a student of democratic and labour 
movements ; contributor to political and literary 
newspapers and magazines, two of which he himself 
helped to edit ; was a noted sportsman ; corresponded 
with the most important men of his time, and was on 
terms of especial intimacy with the then Prince of 
Wales, afterwards Edward VII. 

Mademoiselle Marie Vetsera : daughter of a Hun- 
garian baron, whose wife was of the Baltazzi family 
of bankers, well known in the Levant. Attached to 
the suite of the Empress Elizabeth, mother of the 
Archduke Rudolph, Mademoiselle Vetsera, still in her 
teens and a girl of great beauty, soon attracted the 
attention and won the heart of the Crown Prince, the 
liaison lasting from 1888 till January 1889, when, with 
her lover, she was found dead at Meyerling Lodge 
in Lower Austria. Mademoiselle Vetsera, it seems 
clear, was no intrigante or adventuress, but was deeply 
attached to the Archduke Rudolph. 

Count Arthur Potocki : born 1857, a member of the 
distinguished family of that name, which has given 
many men and women of note to the political, social 
and literary life of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy. 
A relative of the Minister of the same name. 

15 



16 PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS 

Bn Fr. X. KlNSKY : born 1861, member of a cadet branch 
of the famous family of Kinsky, the present head of 
which is Prince Karl Kinsky, who, as Count Kinsky, 
was a well-known sportsman on the European turf, 
and steered the steeplechaser Zoedone to victory in 
the Liverpool Grand National. 

COUNT WOLFRAM : a connection, by marriage, of several 
notable Viennese families, and, until 1905, one of the 
wealthiest racing-men on the Continental turf. 

Herr ISIDORE KOINOFF : an Austrian Pole who migrated 
to the United States after the tragedy of Meyerling 
in 1889, and has been successful in amassing, under a 
new name, a considerable fortune in the Middle West 
as a publishing newspaperman. Has contributed to 
the United States press anonymous recollections of 
his Berlin- Vienna experiences. 

Madame " Larricarda " : a member of a good 
but impoverished Austrian family, of whom it has 
been said that she "was probably an unconscious 
agent of Berlin's secret service." This lady was one 
of several persons who were banished from Austria as 
a result of the tragedy of Meyerling. 

JOSEPH BRATFISCH : a member of the Archduke Rudolph's 
stable service, who acted, on occasion, either as coach- 
man or as body-servant to His Highness. His cousin, 
Conrad Bratfisch, was valet to the Archduke's per- 
sonal secretary. 



CHAPTER I 

Concerning Myself and my Family — The Education of a 
Cosmopolitan — Feldkirch, Stonyhurst, the Sorbonne, Milan 
— The Making of a Democrat — Viennese Society and the 
Intellectuals — Kaiser Franz Josef and his Heir — A Con- 
structive King — Bismarck and his Plans for Prussia — 
Rudolph's Popularity 

In attempting to tell the story of the last days of 
my unfortunate chief and patron, the Archduke 
Rudolph of Habsburg, as with an excusable enough 
pride he was wont to speak of himself in familiar 
and convivial company, it may be proper to set 
forth my claim to have filled so important a 
position as that of intimate personal secretary 
to His Highness, as well as right to explain who 
I am and how I came to be associated with the 
heir to the Austrian throne. 

I intend to give of my family and its record, 
just such indications as will provide a warranty of 
their truthfulness for those who may reasonably 
be supposed to have had some knowledge of the 
social and political conditions of Europe in the 
years 1887, 1888 and 1889. Beyond this I cannot, 
for reasons which appear obvious, be expected 
to go. The role which myself played in the 
social drama of those years was, in view of my 
comparative youth and inexperience, more that 
of a spectator than an actor, as will duly be realised 

B 17 



18 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

in the course of this narrative. My story may, 
nevertheless, be taken to be the truth, and, as the 
initiated will not require to be told, I have written 
nothing which could not be fully substantiated if 
access might be obtained to the private archives 
of the imperial houses under consideration. The 
near future must, in any case, reveal the truth as 
I bear witness to it. 

I am a cosmopolitan by lineage as well as 
by inclination, although the souche or stock of 
my family is undoubtedly Austro-German. The 
estate of my uncle — my dead father's eldest 
brother — was one of the most considerable in 
Carinthia, lying in the neighbourhood of Hutt en- 
berg. This uncle's second patrimony was situated 
to the north-west of Venetia, in Friuli, a region 
which considers itself, even to these days, Italian ; 
indeed, it was a source of mild domestic unrest in 
my uncle's home that his wife, who belonged to 
the Orsini tribe, always affected to consider herself 
superior in point of origin to her Germanic 
husband, and admitted only one recommendation 
in his favour — namely, the fact that his mother 
had also been an Italian of the wealthy and 
newly ennobled Lombardini house. This lady's 
father had in his time married a lady of the 
distinguished house of Stapleton, in Yorkshire, 
a Catholic family, while another brother had 
married into the Benevento family, which was 
better known in France by the more illustrious 
name of Perigord. In the year 1887, when I was 
in my twenty-fifth year, I was kinsman to men 



A COSMOPOLITAN'S EDUCATION 19 

who were notables in Austria, in Italy, in England 
and in France. Add to this the further considera- 
tion that a Neapolitan princely relative of my 
aunt's Roman family, della Rocca by name, had 
married into the rich German-Jewish family of 
Heine, the well-known poet who resided for the 
most part in Paris, and it will be admitted that 
my pretensions to be a " kosmopolite," as we 
Teutons term it, are not ill founded. In the 
capitals of the countries just named I had intimate 
connections, and indeed may claim to have had 
both a home and a welcome in all of them. 

My father died in Vienna, where, as a Court 
official, he resided, when I was ten years old, my 
mother following two years later, after which I 
was entrusted to the care of the best of uncles. 
I pass over the years of my early education, which 
was obtained at the school of Feldkirch ; at the 
age of fifteen I was sent to England, and passed 
three years at the Jesuit College of Stonyhurst, 
in Lancashire ; leaving there, I passed to London, 
where for two years I studied with a well-known 
tutor, the intention being that I should proceed 
to Oxford. The then Cardinal of Westminster, 
Monsignor Manning, a close friend of my English 
guardian, a Mr M. Stapleton, counselled, however, 
against my becoming an Oxford man, and this 
on the ground, as I was then informed, that 
residence at Oxford was certain to kill my religious 
beliefs. In due course I proceeded to Paris, where 
I entered as a student at the old Sorbonne ; here 
I spent two years, becoming at the end of that 



20 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

time a licencie-es-lettres and being credited with 
speaking French unusually well. Languages I 
found easy of acquirement ; English I spoke 
almost like a native ; Italian I read and wrote 
like an educated Roman, so that when, in my 
twenty-first year, I proceeded to Milan, I soon 
attained great ease in speaking that language. 
I mention this gift of tongues for the reason, only, 
that it was the one which in due course drew 
towards me the attention of the Archduke Rudolph, 
himself an accomplished, if somewhat " guttural " 
linguist, a characteristic, by the way, which he 
shared with his lifelong friend, Prince Albert 
Edward of Wales. I left Milan, after a year's 
stay, in my twenty-third year, and proceeded to 
Vienna, where my uncle was passing the Court 
season, in the early summer of 1885. 

My life in England, France and Italy had given 
my character so strong a predisposition towards 
what is — to Austrians at least — unaccountably 
called Bohemianism, that the somewhat strait- 
laced society of Vienna was hardly likely to accord 
with my tastes. By my cosmopolitan education, 
of a democratic turn of mind, I disliked any social 
system which refused even to men of eminent 
intellectual worth the entree to its first coteries, 
except on terms of the barest sufferance and in a 
way which no self-respecting man could tolerate, 
once he had tested the temper of Viennese aristoc- 
racy towards all who had been born outside its 
narrow circle. In London and in Paris I had had 
ample opportunity of noting that great talent 



EXCLUSIVE VIENNESE SOCIETY 21 

practically led the great world of the time, and 
that the highly placed were really the instruments 
of its will and ceuvre, no matter what the noble 
dispensers of hospitality may themselves have 
thought of relative positions in the matter. In 
Mayfair and in the Quartier St Germain there 
were, of course, houses in which the principle of 
" noble quarterings " still prevailed as the con- 
dition of acceptableness ; but these coteries were, 
for the most part, of the dullest and most tasteless 
kind, and neither the real London nor the real 
Paris cared about their existence — in truth, rarely 
heard of them. Viennese society was, on the 
contrary, based wholly on the principle of 
" quarterings," and the attitude of a certain great 
English noble who once subjected Dr Johnson to 
the indignity of dining behind a screen, in order 
to conceal the poverty of the lexicographer's 
attire from fellow-guests, was practically that of 
noble Austrians towards distinguished commoners 
of all kinds. 

An important result of this insane exclusive- 
ness was that intellectual Vienna set about 
establishing its own social unit, equally exclusive 
and self-contained, and so there sprang into exist- 
ence a kind of Separate Estate which, by main- 
taining an intriguing radicalism in its general 
attitude towards the imperial regime, became one 
of the fruitful factors in hastening the decay, 
not only of the monarchy, but also of Austria's 
political prestige in the eyes of Europe. It is 
true that Kaiser Franz was too practised a 



22 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

statesman not to realise that his nobility was under- 
mining its own stability as well as the dynasty of 
the Habsburgs. Himself he sought to neutralise 
this by affecting the Pauline attitude of being all 
things to all men — a pose from which he was 
constitutionally altogether averse, since the divine 
quality of popular sympathy has always been 
foreign to his nature. Added to this comes the 
fact that he is among the least intellectual of men, 
and although more than once deservedly de- 
scribed as the first gentleman in Europe, it is 
only in the social or imperial sense that he can 
be so regarded. What Voltaire, I think, speaks 
of as the born kindliness which springs from a 
sympathetic heart has been temperamentally 
denied to Francis Joseph. In him there is little 
of the real humanitarian, however much policy 
may dictate the semblance of that quality, and 
to my mind he represents a true type of the neo- 
pagan — a Roman Emperor in modern military 
uniform, with something of the ethical veneer of 
a Borgia cardinal : a man above malice, however, 
and one whose temperamental failings are due 
more to a native bloodless indifference than to 
any hardness of disposition. 

Of an entirely different cast was my chief, the 
Archduke Rudolph. To what particular ancestor 
he owed his reversionary type would prove a 
highly speculative problem — to the Emperor 
Charles V., perhaps. That the gods had especially 
favoured him is, however, very certain, and it 
was the opinion of the most considerable men of 



RUDOLPH AND ALBERT EDWARD 23 

his day that he was of the stuff of constructive 
kings. To my mind he resembled no prince who 
has come within the scope of my observation so 
much as his friend, correspondent and political 
mentor, the Prince of Wales, who later became 
Edward VII. There was indeed a marvellous 
mental and psychical resemblance between the 
two heirs-apparent. Each possessed a profound 
personal fascination, an omnivorous interest in 
all things pertaining to human kind and human 
progress ; each was in his real heart a man of 
the people, a lover of peace, and to both had been 
granted those gifts so rarely bestowed on princes — 
namely, the faculty of assimilating and grasping 
the spirit and actualities of the age into which 
they are born, as well as the intuition which senses 
its evolutionary process. In rulers who do not 
possess these gifts, the chief tendency is towards 
a decadent retrogression, or at least to a stag- 
nant conservatism. The main constituent in the 
fascination and popularity of both Rudolph and 
Albert Edward was their active recognition that 
in the world of their day Democracy held the only 
cards worth holding, that Feudalism had passed 
beyond recall, that the final dispatch of Militarism 
was but a matter of years. Neither had required 
any Seer to read to him the portents of 1864, 1866 
and 1870. 

Bismarck, it may be remembered, was on one 
occasion frank enough to unveil his mind regard- 
ing the sincerity of Austria's attachment to the 
new conditions which gave Prussia the headship of 



24 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Germanic Europe. The astute Chancellor saw 
further than the diplomatic dullards of Berlin. 

" Austria," he said in effect, " may forgive us, 
but can she forget ? " 

Would the reversionary heirs of the Caesars per- 
manently consent to abase themselves before the 
late boors of the Brandenburg Mark ? It was 
certain that with Austria lay the decision for or 
against the Hohenzollerns, and Bismarck realised 
that the only hope for the dynasty he served so 
faithfully lay in crushing out all hope of an Austrian 
revival, all attempt to recapture her hereditary 
position as the arbitress of the Germanic Bond and 
its destinies in the world. For him, therefore, and 
his policies, no constructive kings outside Berlin. 

Between Kaiser Franz and his heir Rudolph 
there subsisted a perfect affection — not so un- 
common a phenomenon where the parental bond 
serves as the welding force of two antithetical 
natures. Unlike many other dynastic families, 
moreover, the family sense of the Habsburgs is 
a strongly developed trait. Kaiser Franz, it is 
well known, has few illusions about his in- 
tellectual limitations ; nor was he at all ignorant 
or jealous of the commanding personal qualities 
of his heir, to whom, in truth, he looked to restore 
to the dynasty that prestige of which a succession 
of political and warlike mischances had robbed 
it since days dating as far back as Austerlitz 
and Wagram. The Emperor well knew that the 
Archduke was pre-eminently well equipped for 
that role of socio-political compromise for which 



AN IDEAL CROWN PRINCE 25 

he himself felt he was, temperamentally considered, 
but poorly fitted. Indeed, it was an accepted 
axiom in Vienna in the eighties that the pre- 
maturely ageing Kaiser was freely willing to 
abdicate, in favour of his son, a throne to which 
he clung only from an overwhelming sense of 
duty to the honour of his House — a sentiment 
so transparently honest and so actively forceful 
in him that it has enabled him to retain his crown 
where any weaker monarch must have lost it be- 
yond redemption for his race. And so it was that 
conditions ensued within the empire very similar 
to those which existed during the widowhood of 
Queen Victoria, when, socially speaking, the Heir- 
Apparent was King in all but title, the Archduke 
enacting a corresponding role in Austrian society. 
Rudolph it invariably was who represented 
the Emperor in all social movements which 
were calculated to conciliate the self-isolated 
Separate Estate — a body which played within 
the empire the role of destructive critic of the 
existing regime. To its adherents Rudolph was 
not only acceptable on the ground of his known 
sympathy with democratic aspirations ; he was 
also bound to them by the fact that his private 
purse had subsidised several publications, one 
of which was, indeed, owned and partly edited 
by himself. The Prince had, moreover, written 
several respectable books of travel and science, 
and among his closest friends were Austrian 
journalists and literary men of European note. 
It was publicly understood, and privately a matter 



26 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of knowledge, that Rudolph's own inclination was 
in favour of the strongest possible political re- 
lationship with England and Russia as the surest 
means of curbing Prussian ambitions ; further, 
that he regarded the Triple Alliance as the out- 
ward expression of the policy which was not only 
reducing Austria to the condition of a vassal of 
Prussia, but which was also the means by which 
Bismarck assured her continued subjection. His 
private life, it was admitted, was hardly such as 
became the Heir-Apparent to a Most Catholic 
monarchy; his love affairs were legion, his sacri- 
fices to Bacchus notorious, while his vast debts 
were the measure of his passion for gambling and 
dissipation of many varieties. Julius Csesar, it 
might be recalled, had himself spent a vicious and 
dissipated youth. Subjects prefer, I think, that 
their future rulers shall have looked upon life in 
all its multi-coloured expressions. His life was 
a sign, moreover, that officious Vaticanism would 
count for little under Emperor Rudolph ; and, in 
any case, he was still on the better side of thirty, 
with ample time for self -reform. 

In Germanic countries of his time, Prince 
Bismarck, it is perhaps hardly necessary to state, 
towered, without danger of rivalry or comparison, 
above all men to whom Destiny had assigned a 
political or diplomatic role in the history of their 
own age, and it is not to be denied at this stage, 
one may suppose, that since the age of Napoleon, 
no such imperious personality had appeared in 
Europe to work the will of the Fates. The 



"RUDOLPH, EMPEROR OF GERMANY!" 27 

Chancellor's own marvellous intuitions in matters 
of intrigue, as well as his sense of imposing 
portents, whether in men or in matters, were 
powerfully assisted by a network of espionage and 
secret service the like of which has been unknown 
since Hannibal prepared his titanic descent upon 
Consular Rome. And so it was that Bismarck 
well knew how widespread throughout political 
and intellectual Austria -Hungary was the hope 
that the House of Habsburg should at some un- 
distant day re-enter into the chieftaincy of the 
Germanic Powers; was well aware with what 
scorn and contempt the Austrian nobles and the 
old territorial magnates looked upon the upstart 
House of Hohenzollern — a tribe which, even 
Bismarck himself conceded, was not superior in 
origin to his own ancient line of squirearchs ; was 
acquainted by his secret informants that a 
common toast at every mess-table throughout the 
imperial army was expressed daily in the words : 
" To Rudolph, Emperor of Germany ! " ; that one 
of the first great diplomatists of his age — the then 
Prince of Wales — was entirely in sympathy with 
the Archduke's determination to detach Austria 
from the Triple Alliance ; that, in fine, the 
Bismarckian system of Prussian domination in 
Europe was menaced by a real force in the person 
of the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who was 
backed by the sympathies of the then brewing 
Triplice — Britain, France and Russia. 

It is with this momentous political crux, and 
all it involved, that my narrative deals. 



CHAPTER II 

Fears of Austrian Landowners — I possess my Uncle's Confidence 
— Am appointed Imperial Messenger — Join Austrian Embassy 
in London — Oberon's Lincolnshire and Gamecock's National 
— I return to Vienna with the Archduke 

It will be remembered that after the defeat of 
France in 1870, and the accession of Confederated 
Germany to the place which Austria had until 
that time held, many men foretold the approach- 
ing break up of the aggregation of countries over 
which the House of Habsburg ruled, prophesying 
at the same time a period of revolution within the 
Empire. It was not surprising, therefore, that 
some of the territorial magnates of the Dual 
Monarchy adopted about this time the policy of 
converting large portions of their estates into 
ready cash, most of which was transferred to 
England and there invested in public funds. A 
certain amount of secrecy was, of course, 
practised in these transfers, which involved the 
passing of vast tracts of land into the hands of 
new men, and in the case of my uncle's properties 
around Huttenberg and in the Trentino, the 
proviso was established that the rupture of entails 
should only be disclosed after his death; in the 
meantime the purchasers were to occupy their 
newly acquired demesnes as if in the capacity of 
tenants only. Possessing, as good fortune willed 

28 



AN IMPERIAL DISPATCH-CARRIER 29 

it, my relative's entire confidence, I was chosen 
as the agent of some of his money transfers to 
London, where at that time Count Karolyi, our 
distant kinsman, was acting as Austrian Am- 
bassador. Between the time of my arrival at 
Vienna in 1885, and the year 1887, owing to the 
kindness of my late father's friend, Count Joseph 
Hoyos, I had obtained a post in the Austrian 
Foreign Office in the capacity of Imperial Dispatch- 
carrier — what is also called King's Messenger — 
a busy enough office at the time, I may explain, 
since the affairs of the Triplice gave couriers plenty 
of movement passing between Berlin and Rome 
or wherever the German and Italian Courts and 
Ministers happened to be in residence. Incident- 
ally, I may say, I was the bearer, on two occasions, 
of special communications from the Emperor to 
King Milan at Belgrade, and these I was com- 
manded to deliver in person to the Servian 
monarch. Once again I presented a dispatch to 
Pope Leo XIII. 

In the early months of 1887, Count Karolyi, 
in view of stress of work certain to arise out 
of the festivities connected with the Jubilee of 
Queen Victoria, solicited the Austrian Foreign 
Office for an additional secretary in London, at 
the same time suggesting my name as one who had 
been educated in England and knew its customs. 
This suggestion quite accorded with the financial 
transfer-operations which my uncle was then 
conducting, and so it was I found myself installed 
at the Embassy in London in March of the Jubilee 



30 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

year. It had become, at that date, definitely 
known that the Archduke Rudolph was to repre- 
sent his Imperial sire at the celebrations in honour 
of Queen Victoria's attainment of the fiftieth year 
of her epochal reign. For all my connection with 
official circles in Vienna, I had never yet been 
presented to the Archduke, though I had duly 
passed the dais at the Hofburg before Kaiser 
Franz. Indeed, I had only seen the Crown Prince 
twice in Vienna, and then had but the most 
fleeting view of him as he passed in the Prater, 
driving the famous phaeton and English blue 
roans with which the Kinsky stables never failed 
of supplying him. My first meeting with the 
Archduke was to come about in a manner that 
was far from ceremonious — indeed, somewhat 
laughably commonplace, since the agents of my 
presentation were, of all people in the world, 
the special detective department connected with 
Scotland Yard. 

In the make-up of Prince Rudolph there was, I 
must state, a distinct symptom of a quality which 
the late King Edward once very happily, and 
within my own hearing, termed " Al-Raschidity." 
It was in full keeping with Rudolph's radical 
and popular ideas that he should love to move ob- 
servingly among the masses as one of themselves, 
and in all possible circumstances unrecognised 
by them. A time came, however, in Vienna, in 
Budapest, in Paris and (I am told, for I have not 
visited Russia) in Petersburg, when the very 
cabmen, newsboys and policemen all came to 



AN ARCHDUCAL TURFITE 31 

recognise the real quality of a very distinguished 
Herr Wittelsbach — his assumed name when intent 
on Raschidian adventure. To London he came 
frequently enough ; not so much, I am certain, 
that he cared for London, if we except its fair 
women, as because here lived his temperamental 
and political affinity, the then Prince of Wales. 
The Archduke was, it will be remembered, a 
highly competent judge of horses and a speculator 
acharne on the chances of any animal which had 
won his fancy, also a frequent visitor to English 
and French race-courses, although I had it once, 
on the authority of his Chamberlain, Count 
Bombelies, who had especial means of knowing, 
that his racing balance, except in one year, was 
deep on the debit side. It was in connection with 
one of these periodical racing visits to England — 
the Grand National Steeplechase of 1887 — that 
I came to be enlisted in his service. 

The Austrian Embassy was housed in 1887 in 
Belgrave Square, where the staff of attaches were 
given what we usually termed " official room "— 
that is to say, rooms were at our disposal if we 
should choose to use them when not engaged on 
duty. It was invariably understood, however, 
that we should rent our own apartments in the 
neighbourhood of the Embassy. Mine, I well 
remember, were a very cosy set of rooms, not at 
all expensive, situated in Sloane Street and not 
far from the residence of Sir Charles Dilke, who 
had in those days won a considerable notoriety 
from some personal circumstances, which though 



32 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

radical enough in their nature were not at all 
connected with the radical politics he so pro- 
foundly affected. Here I arrived one Thursday 
mid-evening towards the close of March, the day 
having been passed in dealing with certain political 
documents having an Austro-British ecclesiastical 
bearing, the remaining principals to the affair 
being several Roman prelates at the Archbishop's 
House in Westminster — always a tedious affair, 
since, in my experience, some bishops and mon- 
signori are, as a rule, verbose and affected and 
as skittish as old virgins in treating with men 
and matters of the world. My servant, Conrad 
Bratfisch — a cousin, by the way, of that Brat- 
fisch who served the Archduke Rudolph as head 
coachman and who was with him on his Highness's 
last visit to Meyerling — had just brought me a 
cup of coffee, as well as a batch of mail consisting 
of two letters from Vienna and another bearing a 
London postmark. This last letter interested me 
for one especial reason, and that was because, 
being largely dependent on my uncle, I was far 
from rich, and this particular envelope disclosed 
a cheque for a trifle over £2500. Its sender was 
a well-known betting agent called Fry, and I 
became possessed of this very opportune specie 
in the following way : — 

One of the then Embassy's many visitors was a 
member of the Kinsky family, representatives of 
which excellent tribe were at that period well-known 
figures on the world's Turf. Our Kinsky, I must 
say, was in every way a most amiable fellow, had 



A FIFTY-TO-ONE WIN 38 

professionally sponsored me on my arrival in 
London and been very obliging in other ways. As 
far as I remember, he had spent a couple of years 
at Oxford — it may, indeed, have been Cambridge — 
and, in any case, he was a whole-hearted amateur 
of the English idea in all its phases and forms. 
To myself, as well as to my colleagues in Belgrave 
Square, he had given the information that the then 
well-known Duchess of Montrose expected a horse 
— Oberon by name — to win under her colours in 
the Lincolnshire Handicap. The lady was very 
much alone in her belief apparently, for the 
longest odds were quoted against her champion. 
Kinsky, who frequently tiffined with me, was 
insistent, however, that this particular tuyau was 
the lineal heir of all the accumulated certainties 
which had ever won since horse was shod with 
racing-plates. An amusing youth, with a talent 
for argot of all kinds, he counselled me, in short, to 
put my penultimate shirt on Oberon. Happening 
in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross a few days 
before the Handicap was run, I called on Mr 
Fry's agent and placed a fifty-pound note on 
Oberon at odds of fifty to one. No wonder, then, 
at my interest in the letter which brought me this 
pleasant slice of luck, as the English term it. I 
was setting about the perusal of the remaining 
letters when unexpectedly the door opened and 
Bratfisch announced : 

" His Excellency, the Ambassador, sir," and 
my chief, Count Karolyi, entered on the heels of 
the servant. 



U LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

This visit was, of course, wholly informal, if 
you like, even in the case of a relative, and my 
looks did not disguise the astonishment I felt. 

44 My dear boy," the Ambassador explained, in 
his official yet camarade way, "you did not, of 
course, expect me; but I want your services, 
and at once. Rudolph, Scotland Yard has just 
informed me, is in England, and with Arthur 
Potocki ; they arrived yesterday for this great 
steeplechase at Liverpool, where our country is 
represented by a horse belonging to Count Erdody . 
They are quite unattended, and in these days of 
Anarchist movement, this must not be. How the 
Vienna police should have failed to notify us 
passes my understanding. In any case, you must 
proceed at once to Liverpool, where you will 
notify the Chief Constable, and remain with the 
Archduke until he returns to London. You have 
ample time to catch the night mail to Crewe ; 
if not, you must take a special. You will find 
our Prince incognito at the Adelphi Hotel." 

This was, of course, unexpected; but never- 
theless I managed to catch the second night mail 
at Euston, and arrived in Liverpool an hour after 
midnight, engaging rooms at the Adelphi. In 
this noted rendezvous of sportsmen the night was, 
for the great carnival, at least, still young, and the 
public rooms were all crowded. One might have 
expected the heir to an Imperial crown to have 
retired to rest by three o'clock in the morning. 
This was not Rudolph's happy way, however, 
and among the vigilants at that early hour none 



KAISER AND CROWN PRINCE 35 

was more alert than himself. Men I noted in the 
crowd who were as well known at Baden and 
Homburg as on English race-courses — owners, 
patrician and plebeian, trainers, jockeys, book- 
makers and professional backers. My card was 
duly conveyed to Arthur Potocki, with whom I 
possessed but a shadowy acquaintance. He well 
understood the purport of my presence, he said, 
and fully appreciated the solicitude of Vienna's 
representative in London. Under the circum- 
stances, however, he could not yet mention my 
arrival to the Crown Prince, but would do so on 
the morrow, when I should probably be presented 
— all of which took place in due course. 

The Archduke Rudolph was unaffected 
amiability itself to all on whom his eye lighted 
gladly, and from the moment he gave me his 
hand I became bound to him by a devotion that 
might, for its sincerity, have sprung from a genera- 
tion of intimacy. With his Imperial father 
there was, of course, all the gentle courtesy of 
the prince trained to kingly attitudes and forms. 
A close observer could not, however, fail to note 
that all his interest passed with the superficial 
smile that welcomed the stranger at the Imperial 
dais, and rare indeed was the being whose person- 
ality touched an answering chord of interest in 
the heart of that self-centred old monarch. With 
the Archduke, who disguised neither his first- 
sight likes nor dislikes, all who pleased him were 
made to feel at once and at all times welcome to 
his presence. He was at this time in his twenty- 



36 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

ninth year ; in height about five feet nine inches ; 
eyes of a bright blue, complexion high-coloured, 
nut-brown hair, of a carriage distinctly imposing, 
yet with a tendency towards that embonpoint 
which also characterised Albert Edward. His 
voice was, as I have said, somewhat guttural, 
baritone, and very pleasant to hear; his gestures 
of a quick French rather than the heavy Teutonic 
emphasis ; altogether he resembled a gentleman 
of the French type, although a marked heaviness 
of feature, accentuated by the historic Austrian 
lip, told the story of his Habsburg origin. 

The Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase of 
1887 marks itself in my mind, first because the 
Austrian-owned horse, Too Good, failed to win a 
large stake for the Archduke Rudolph ; secondly, 
because my own modest run of winning luck 
declared itself in a highly capricious way. The 
great race, I remember, was won by a steeplechaser 
bearing the name Gamecock, and, if my memory 
serves, a French horse was second. On leaving 
London I had folded in my pocket-book some 
bank-notes totalling perhaps £100, and these 
soon passed into the possession of professional 
layers in the Ring, for, like my countrymen, I had 
placed my trust in Count Erdody's horse and, 
indeed, was so entirely a loser on the day's trans- 
actions that when our representative was beaten 
for the big race I found myself with but a few 
gold pieces in my purse. Coincidently enough, 
there was entered on that day, in one of the minor 
races, a horse bearing the name Prince Rudolph. 




THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH, AGED 24, 1882. 



A GAMBLER'S INSPIRATION 37 

What chance it stood of winning, I did not, of 
course, know, for, in truth, I had never even heard 
of the animal's existence. Yet the idea came to 
me, as such inspirations will come to betting men, 
that this animal would win — more particularly, 
too, because I was at the end of my funds. And 
then it suddenly flashed upon me that I was still 
in possession of my cheque for an odd £2500. I 
confided my difficulty to Arthur Potocki, and he, 
an inveterate and superstitious gambler, advised 
me to explain the affair to the well-known book- 
maker, Mr Davis, who at once recognised his 
fellow-penciller's cheque and credited me with 
its value. Strong in my inspiration, I ventured 
the entire amount on the horse of my fancy ; 
judging, too, by Potocki's somewhat protracted 
conversation with Davis — who, I may say, was 
under no illusion whatever as to the quality of 
Herr Wittelsbach — he also invested upon the 
horse for both the Archduke and himself, and 
when the horse was returned a winner, and I saw 
my cheque multiplied in value by three, I also 
noted an unusual satisfaction on the faces of 
my distinguished countrymen. In Vienna, some 
months later, I learned that the Archduke's 
separate winnings on the horse Prince Rudolph * 
totalled nearly £25,000. 

Like most men of the world, Rudolph liked a 
winner, whether in horse or human flesh, and the 
result of this day's speculation was that I entered 

1 The records give the age of this horse as six years. It was trained 
by L' Anson and ridden by the late Mr " Abington " Baird. — Editor. 



38 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

into the especial favour of the Crown Prince, who 
was, moreover, particularly pleased with my 
fluency in both English and French. Count 
Karolyi relinquished my services at the Prince's 
behest, and I returned with His Highness and 
Arthur Potocki to Vienna, where I was installed 
as personal private secretary to the Crown Prince. 
My life thereafter began under new and splendid 
conditions in the capital of Austria-Hungary. 



CHAPTER III 

Secretary to the Archduke Rudolph — His Fascinating Personality 
and Ability — Our Visit to Berlin — A Future King and a 
Future Kaiser — Prince William of Prussia and his Clique — 
The Pan-German Idea — Berlin's Fear of Rudolph's Popularity 
and Prestige 

Almost from the first days of my appointment 
to the service of the Archduke, I entered upon 
terms of the most confidential intimacy with him. 
Indeed, the sincerity of my devotion must have 
been entirely obvious to one of his acute sensi- 
bility in such matters, and I can now truthfully 
declare that no person has ever won from me 
anything like the affection which Rudolph's 
personality from the first fairly commanded. My 
position with regard to himself imposed upon me 
a very strict line of conduct in respect of all out- 
side matters and personages — that is to say, I 
became a kind of alter ego of my master, belonged 
to, worked for and lived for him alone, coming, 
almost, to regard my own personality as one 
which had ceased to exist. His correspondence 
became my own charge, his friendships were my 
friendships, his sympathies and antipathies my 
sympathies and antipathies, his objects in exist- 
ence my objects in existence — in short, his will 
became my will. That such a total self-effacement 
argued something of a negative personality on 
39 



40 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

my own part, I am freely willing to admit. Over 
the long stretch of years I now explain it to myself 
only on the ground that my devotion to the Prince 
transcended every other sentiment of which I was 
capable, and I remember that the late Lord 
Suffield, in my hearing, explained the unexampled 
devotion of the late Mr Christopher Sykes to Prince 
Albert Edward on precisely the same grounds. 
Love, ambition, pleasure, the pursuit of a grand 
career, even family affections — all these I was 
willing to forgo and sacrifice, had he demanded 
so much from me. 

I feel bound to explain, however, that the 
glamour of his Imperial position counted for little 
in this complete self-surrender, as against the 
compelling attraction of his personality, since for 
many generations members of my family had 
served at the steps of the Austrian and other 
European thrones. So dominant was this personal 
magnetism in the Crown Prince, in all circles in 
which he moved, that I often doubt if Napoleon 
exercised a more imperious fascination or influence 
on the men who followed his prodigious fortunes. 
Nor was this all-compelling mastery of the cir- 
cumstances of the moment confined to his own 
country and countrymen. In Berlin, in Paris, in 
London, in Rome, even the leaders risen from the 
people bowed before his native supremacy and 
talent and admitted the presence of what is nowa- 
days termed a Superman. In that admirable 
work entitled The Last Phase I remember to have 
read the opinion of its author that Napoleon had 



PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA 41 

been " wrecked by the extravagance of his own 
genius." To institute any comparison between 
the great self-made prince and the Heir of the 
Habsburgs is not, be assured, my intention. 
Nevertheless, these words often recur to me when 
I think upon the tragedy which removed Rudolph 
from the world. His commanding ability had 
even then, in his untried age, been sufficiently 
apparent to awaken the fear and envy of men 
who feared that in Rudolph had arrived the long- 
foretold statesman-prince who was to restore to 
the Habsburgs the prestige of their ancient crown 
— the restoration of real Germany. And to-day 
I am more than ever convinced that he was lost 
to Austria at a crisis of her Imperial fortunes. 

In April, 1887, it will be remembered, the old 
Emperor William I. had made a partial recovery 
from one of the many illnesses attendant on the 
senile decay into which he had already fallen, and 
even then it was a matter of general knowledge 
that the number of the days remaining to his heir, 
Frederick William, was also cast. The Prince of 
Wales was in Berlin in the spring of that year, and 
when, as the deputy of Kaiser Franz, the Arch- 
duke Rudolph proceeded to the Prussian capital, 
in order to offer congratulations to the reigning 
Emperor on his recovery, I accompanied him, 
I was in due course presented to the English Heir- 
Apparent and for the first time met the Prince 
who was afterwards to play so histrionic a role 
on the theatre of European history under the title 
of Kaiser Wilhelm II. 



42 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

The then Prince William of Prussia — Bismarck's 
rather sorry attempt to popularise him as Prince 
" Bill " never, I may say, got the distance, as 
racing men put it — was a year younger than 
Rudolph, and already, to even untrained observers, 
gave evidence of that capricious quest for notoriety 
which, far more than any real ability, enabled him 
subsequently to impose his very shallow person- 
ality on an age which history will probably call 
the most superficial and barren on record. The 
personal relations subsisting between the then 
Prince William of Prussia and the Crown Prince 
of Austria were publicly supposed at the time to 
have been very cordial in their nature ; a supposi- 
tion which, I can say, was entirely a wrong one, 
for I doubt if, in the record of the world's heirs- 
apparent, two princes were more assuredly born 
to prove antipathetic the one to the other. On 
the Habsburg side you had the perfect man of 
the world, intensely popular, highly intellectual, 
sympathetic, with no pretensions to a godliness 
which he did not feel, to virtues which he did not 
practise, or to talents which he did not possess ; 
a man whose arrival in any capital of the world 
was always a source of interest and pleasure to 
the spirits who led the time. For all that, a prince 
fallen from high estate and shadowed by the 
tragedy of 1866. 

On the other hand was the representative of 
the conquering House of Hohenzollern : Prince 
William was a young man whose only apparent 
gift had been the ability to recognise that great 



THE ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT 43 

or popular talents had been denied him. He 
had, therefore, every observer could see, studied 
out a pose in life which was wholly a contradiction 
to an essentially plebeian and commonplace 
nature. This pose — much copied in many circles 
— has long since made the tour of the world 
labelled with the apology that it is the expression 
of the " artistic temperament," and has not 
infrequently made the fortune of charlatan 
exponents who impose on credulous dullards 
incapable of seeing beneath its inane trickeries. 
It is based mainly on the cultivation of unfelt 
enthusiasms ; its chief outward expression is 
a forced animation of feature and manner, an 
affected capacity for discerning the wonderful 
where there is nothing but the commonplace ; 
a fidgety vivacity which at times touches on 
the convulsive; much loudness of speech and 
a laboured incisiveness in conversation about 
nothing which requires incision ; a derisive view, 
on the charge of " philistinism," of all ordinary 
conventions which must eternally remain the 
conditions of sane social life and intercourse ; 
a copiousness of gesticulation and emphasis where 
neither is expected ; above all, the perennial 
glorification of totally unfelt feelings for every- 
thing that represents the objects of its enthusiasms, 
whatever these may be. Over the long decades 
I remember this earliest pose of Prince William 
of Prussia, and how its first ebullitions affronted 
and antagonised princes and noblemen who, 
socially speaking, were satisfied to be gentlemen 



44 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

before anything else. This was the Prince, 
then, who represented aggressive Prussianism, 
strong in its triumphs of 1864, 1866, 1870. 

My master, Rudolph, could not have been 
termed, I must say, a handsome man, in the 
strict sense of that expression ; he was, neverthe- 
less, a prince of the utmost personal distinction, 
and a proof thereof lay in the fact that he 
looked more imperial in private dress than in 
military uniform or regalia. The Prussian heir- 
presumptive was, on the contrary, always in 
military tenue, while his countenance, even in 
society, much affected the Drohblick x with which 
all German officers are instructed by the military 
code to becloud their sulky faces. I have often, 
during my frequent sojourns in Berlin, heard 
visitors remark upon the entire lack of distinction 
or nobleness in Prince William, and have myself 
often wondered that so plebeian a creature could 
have sprung from the loins of a sire who was truly 
of the heroic type. I have, indeed, seen no prince 
so unfavourably compare with royal and imperial 
congeners as Prince William, and on one occasion, 
at a Hof burg levee, when the Prince of Wales, the 
Archduke Rudolph and the Prussian Prince, 
formed a trio apart, I heard my kinsman, the old 
Due de Valencay (Sagan), make a perhaps not 
very original, but, under the circumstances, 

1 The Diarist leaves this word untranslated, and we know no 
English equivalent. The American term, " to give one the steel 
eye," comes near enough. The direct rendering is " threatening 
look." — Editor. 



AN IMPOSSIBLE LOVELACE 45 

apposite enough, remark, with reference to the 
awkward yet pretentious attitudes of Frederick's 
heir : "Voila un triangle dont un angle est bien 
obtus." 

The attitude of the Prussian heir-presumptive 
towards other princes of those days was one the 
like of which I have never seen equalled for its 
intermittent phases of affected modesty and 
vulgar arrogance, just as his moods varied, and 
at the same time for its strange mixture of 
mauvaise honte and self-assertiveness. Somewhere 
in Scott I have read that there is nothing more 
ridiculous than a pose of social boldness adopted 
by a bashful man, and this was largely the im- 
pression which Prince William's attitude and 
demeanour conveyed to those who observed him 
in the days when he was heir-presumptive to the 
crown of the Hohenzollerns. Of all the Princes 
of the Blood in Europe, he was certainly, in 1887, 
one of the least popular and least impressive, 
while even his attempts to please were always 
marked with a boorish condescension which more 
than one gentleman of my acquaintance made no 
pretence whatever at resenting. 

Much had been written in those days of the 
favour with which fair women looked upon him. 
There was, nevertheless, no truth whatever in the 
many stories told of his successes as a Lovelace ; 
and in Vienna, which, owing to the establishment 
of the Triple Alliance, was at that time socially 
very much in touch with Berlin, it was well known 
for a fact that any success of this sort would have 



46 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

been impossible, since nature, which had been 
unkind to the Prince in the matter of the withered 
arm, had hardly been more liberal in other respects, 
and even in the venal coulisses and green-rooms 
of Berlin theatres, the mention of his name always 
evoked from notorious women a recollective simper 
suggestive of a pity which was far from akin to 
love. It was a well-known fact, too, that in his 
earlier days his body servants were chosen from 
one of the several institutes for afflicted dumb 
males in Posen, mostly Poles who, even had they 
been able to speak, would have found some diffi- 
culty in regaling Berliner s with the real facts 
concerning the royal and imperial torso. 1 In any 
other circumstances I should long hesitate to 
touch upon such particulars ; but in the case of 
one who, events have proved, aspires, of his 
masculinity, to rule the world, one may be 
pardoned the reflection that all world conquerors 
of the genuine breed were men who embodied in 
the highest degree the principle of the sound 
mind in the sound frame — notably, Alexander, 
Hannibal, Caesar, Napoleon, each of whom was 
of a more or less formidable athletic mould. 

In reality, the average public in any country 
are as children, and, fondly or stupidly, believe 
that kings and princes, who outwardly treat each 
other with elaborate courtesies, are bound to one 

1 Mr Price Collier, in his Germany and the Germans, alludes to 
the physical condition of Kaiser Wilhelm when he says, in effect^ 
that no official has ever seen the Emperor in puris naturalibus 
and been allowed to retain his post. — Editor. 



AN ANTIPATHETIC PAIR 47 

another by ties of the most exquisite brotherliness 

and friendship. The natives of my own Austria 

are no exception to the rule, and just as in Berlin, 

where even newspapers of repute were wont 

to build fantastic political air-castles based on 

the " loving friendship " that subsisted between 

Prince William of Prussia and the Archduke 

Rudolph, so too our popular Viennese organs of 

the eighties often indulged themselves and their 

readers with golden fairy tales about Rudolph's 

personal regard for the Prussian heir-presumptive, 

as he was known until the death of the old 

Emperor William, in 1888. So far from this being 

the fact, it is doubtful if, at any time before I 

entered the service of the Archduke, there was a 

single point of favourable personal contact open 

to these two princes who, as I have said, were 

at that time about the same age, my master being 

by one year the senior of the twain. It is certain, 

in any case, that, for my own part, and I can answer 

for the intimates of the Archduke, such as Count 

Potocki, Hoyos, Teleki, Bombelles, Wielen, no 

suggestion was ever made of a visit to any capital 

that should bring the two Imperial heirs together 

which did not fill us with some kind of alarm ; 

and as, moreover, much of the personal diplomatic 

business between the Courts of Vienna and Berlin 

was executed on behalf of Kaiser Franz by his 

son Rudolph, it so happened that the meetings 

of my master with the Prussian Prince became 

matters of considerable, as well as, to his Highness 

and ourselves, unfortunate frequency. 



48 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Unluckily, too, about this time, Prince William, 
having reached that stage of self-knowledge which 
the French describe by the term conscience de soi, 
was quietly sizing up the situation as regards his 
immediate personal prospects. It was well known 
to us in Austria that the Hohenzollern family, 
after our unfortunate adventure which culminated 
at Sadowa in 1866, definitely regarded themselves 
as the divinely appointed successors to that 
position in Central Europe which had been held 
by the Habsburgs until the opening of the nine- 
teenth century, and which they voluntarily 
abdicated in the days of the all-conquering 
Napoleon, when they ceased to call themselves 
the chiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. Nor did 
the Prussians confine their ambitions merely to 
the custodianship of all that was territorially and 
politically involved in the idea of Pan-Germanism, 
of which principle we have heard so much within 
the past generation ; more particularly since the 
fall of Bismarck and the advent to power in 
Germany of that band of political gamblers whom 
anti - Prussian Austrians were wont sometimes 
to term the Mommsenite School. Students of 
history will not require to be told that the Pan- 
German mirage was not at all unknown in Berlin 
in the days of Frederick the Great, and that after 
the fall of Napoleon the statesman Hardenberg 
had once fondly dreamed of a reconstruction of 
the Central Germanic powers based upon that 
principle and, of course, at the expense of Austria- 
Hungary. On the whole, it appears now pretty 



PRUSSIA'S AMBITIOUS PROGRAMME 49 

clear to me that, however much Prince Bismarck 
may have sought to humiliate and enfeeble Austria, 
he had never seriously conceived a Pan-Germanic 
Empire governed from Berlin ; had this been his 
ambition, there was little to prevent a realisation 
of the dream when Prussia defeated our forces 
in Bohemia in 1866, and even Austrians were 
astonished at the moderation displayed by their 
Prussian conquerors as a result of that last Austro- 
Prussian conflict. 

The modern revival of Pan-Germanic notions 
was due rather to the militaristic band of homunculi 
with whom Prince William of Prussia had as early 
as 1887 consented to drink Briiderschaft. 1 My 
master the Archduke was as well informed as any 
man in Austria, and personally knew many of 
this band of brothers by whom Prince William 
had already surrounded himself, and the names 
of many of whom, I may add, subsequently 
appeared among the members of the Camarilla 
which the journalist Harden exposed in 1907. 
That their main objects included the breaking up 
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the reduction 
of the chiefs of the Habsburgs to the condition of 
minor princes was equally well known to us, and 
it was with the object of defeating the aims of 
the " Mommsenite " brotherhood that, from the 
early eighties, the Archduke Rudolph had begun 

1 The Diarist does not translate this word. The act of " drink- 
ing Briiderschaft, or Brothership '■'- among Germans is a kind of 
social confirmation-rite by which the principals swear to stand by 
each other in all possible circumstances and at all times throughout 
their lives. — Editor. 



50 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to exert his overwhelming influence throughout 
Austria-Hungary to the end that a strong political 
national party should come into being, having 
for its principle an Austrian national revival 
based largely on popular or democratic ideas. 1 

It was not, of course, to be imagined that either 
this programme or the source of its influence and 
inspiration could long remain unknown to the 
omniscient and all-observing Bismarck, whose 
agents and spies abounded throughout Austrian 
dominions, at this time, in numbers greater, if 
anything, than those of 1866. The firm grasp 
which Rudolph held on the sympathies of all 
popular parties in his vast heirship was seen at 
once to constitute a grave menace to the plans of 
Bismarck as regards Prussian hegemony in Central 
Europe, as well as to the militaristic ambitions of 
Prince William of Prussia and his school of 
sycophants and politicasters. 

Here, I admit, I seem to be guilty of a contra- 
diction. I have said above that, in my opinion, 
Bismarck entertained no serious Pan-German 
dreams. In my own view, they were foreign to 
his ambitions for his country; nevertheless, it 
was his often-expressed view that political stress, 
combined with the westward movement of Russia, 
must eventually drive Austria into confederation 
with North Germany, entailing her submission to 
Prussia as the head of the Germanic Bond. This 



1 Austro-Hungarian elections of these days certainly bear out 
the statement of the Diarist as to a national revival on popular 
lines. — Editor. 



A PRINCE AND HIS JEALOUSY 51 

course would have coincided fully with his hopes 
for Prussia, and so the new popular movement 
in Austria, as well as the political aptitudes of 
Rudolph, constituted a menace to the Prussia 
of his ideals. 

I think I have here clearly shown how and why 
the Archduke Rudolph and Prince William of 
Prussia were fated to be naturally antagonistic 
to each other. Nor were their antipathies based 
solely on political ideas or contingencies. As I 
shall show in the course of this narrative, the 
superiority of the Austrian both as a man and a 
statesman constituted a source of sore jealousy 
above which William of Hohenzollern was totally 
unable to raise his narrow and envious mind. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Prussian Royal Family — Intrigues respecting the Succession 
— The Crown Prince's Malady — The Crown Princess Victoria 
— The Heir-Presumptive's Attitudes — Albert Edward and 
Rudolph — A Curious Wager — Rudolph's Opinion of Albert 
Edward — Albert Edward's Complaint of the Press 

Already, in 1887, the Crown Prince Frederick 
was under no illusions as to the real nature of that 
disease which was in so short a period to put a 
term to his earthly career. The sombre vigils of 
San Remo had not yet begun ; but, if my recollec- 
tion serves me, several operations had already 
been performed for the removal of cancerous 
growths at the root of the tongue. Doctor 
Mackenzie had as yet not been summoned to 
Berlin, but the visits paid to the Prussian capital 
in the spring and early summer of 1887 by the 
Prince of Wales had more to do with the con- 
tingency of the English surgeon's being eventually 
summoned, than, as was commonly supposed at 
the time, with the personal presentation of in- 
vitations to the Imperial princes to attend the 
Jubilee of Queen Victoria, by the English heir- 
apparent. It is no exaggeration for me to say, 
and the fact was already well known in Vienna, 
that the diseased body of the Crown Prince 
Frederick had by then become the central point 
around which raged one of the most cold-blooded 

52 



FREDERICK AND HIS HEIR 53 

and tragic intrigues of which history has any 
record. I state the reasons for this assertion : 

In the first place, the passing of the old Emperor 
William — virtually, during Bismarck's lengthy 
domination, an amiable and picturesque nonentity 
— was well known to be a matter of, at the most, 
a twelvemonth. The aged monarch fully realised 
that his son's illness was of the gravest nature. 
It was freely said in Vienna, as well as in Berlin, 
that old William I. had seriously listened to the 
suggestions put forward by Prince William of 
Prussia, and also by elderly members of his Court, 
whose sons were intimates of the Prussian heir- 
presumptive, that he should counsel Frederick to 
abdicate in favour of Prince William himself, 
whose youthful energies were, it was urged, better 
fitted to meet the political difficulties attendant 
on the growing aggressive movement of the 
Social Democrats. As regards this position, no 
one outside the most intimate Court circles in 
Berlin could pretend to certain knowledge. Even 
my master the Archduke's knowledge was derived 
only from second-hand sources ; these sources 
were, as a rule, however, very reliable, for, as a 
result of the strong anti-Catholic policies pursued 
in Bismarck's Kulturkampf, there had grown up 
among the old Catholic territorial nobles in 
Prussia a body which was distinctly predisposed 
towards Catholic Austria, and it was from im- 
portant members of this body that the Archduke 
had learned of Prince William's endeavour to 
procure his father's abdication in his own favour. 



54 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

In the second place, there existed a strong 
division of opinion among physicians in Berlin 
as to the assumption that Frederick's malady was 
of an entirely incurable nature. Many held that 
his magnificent bodily strength was capable of 
enabling him to undergo the strain of a series 
of operations for excision during many years — a 
point of view which alarmed those who desired 
to see the militaristic Prince William on the 
throne, his father being notoriously a lover of 
peace, an admirer of England and altogether, as 
a soldier of well-tried experience, averse from the 
bloody adventure of a war of aggrandisement. 
A remarkable situation arose, as a consequence, 
among the prominent medical practitioners in the 
Prussian capital. On the one hand were those 
who came to be known as courtier-physicians, 
men for the most part who placed their own 
personal advancement, professional and social, 
before any consideration of loyal devotion to the 
doomed heir to the throne. Sinister influences, 
working in infamous secrecy, were undoubtedly 
operating on the petty vanities and ambitions 
of these venal creatures. On the other hand were 
men of unquestioned integrity and tried experience 
and ability, who placed their professional honour 
and talents at the service of the afflicted Prince, 
supported by the finest loyalty. To some con- 
siderable degree, too, the political and social world 
became affected — that is to say, in Berlin of 1887 
there were those who desired to see a lengthy reign 
of an Emperor Frederick for all the fruitful 



TWO CLEVER PRINCESSES 55 

prospects it promised ; but also there were many 
who, foresensing the spectacular and histrionic 
reign of an Emperor William II., with all its 
exploitable possibilities, cared not how soon the 
actual Crown Prince should be — removed, if 
necessary. 

Another reason may be looked for in the political 
abilities of the Consort of the Crown Prince 
Frederick, the Princess Victoria (dite Royal, in 
England), eldest sister of the Prince of Wales. 
Even those who were associated in a minor 
capacity in diplomatic affairs may recollect that 
it was a commonplace of chancelleries and political 
salons that the intervention in State matters, in 
those days, of either the Crown Princess Victoria, 
or the Danish-born Tsaritza, always resulted in 
important diplomatic moves and combinations. 
It is matter of too much note, indeed, to recall the 
fact that Bismarck, a firm hater of the political 
petticoat, to use his own exquisite phrase, dreaded 
the invisible hand of the Englaenderin, as he called 
the Princess and had her called in his Press. And 
as Prince William had served articles in the Friede- 
richstrasze in the days when the Chancellor called 
the tunes of Diplomacy from the Tagus to the 
Niemen, it is certain, too, that the Emperor-to-be 
had drunk deeply at the fountain of his old 
Mentor's misogynism ; for, in truth, he hated 
his royal and imperial mother with a fervour 
that might well have burned in the heart of the 
last of the imperial Caesars. 

Towards the sire, Frederick, the attitudes and 



56 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

airs of Prince William were those of poorly enacted 
toleration and contempt, which lost much of their 
effect, however, owing to the almost ridiculous 
physical contrast between the two princes — on the 
one hand, Frederick, a man truly regal in every 
aspect of his splendid person ; on the other, 
William, a tailor-made poseur, under whose in- 
evitable military redingote trained observation 
easily divined the padded half-shoulder, the 
wadded breast, the helpless arm, and noted the 
barrelled nether limbs which bespeak the type 
that shall never learn the manful arts of horse- 
manship. No one could, of course, and for a 
certainty, say what the nature of the personal 
relations subsisting between father and son really 
were; but as far as my observation allowed me 
to divine — and I witnessed their intercourse in 
Berlin, again during the Jubilee of Victoria, in 
London, and subsequently, too, at San Remo — I 
am certain that they were always of that sort in 
which a laboured courtesy and self-restraint on 
the part of both actors provide the measure of an 
elemental antipathy that is no more to be over- 
come on either side than would be the action 
of mutually repellent metals. 

Nor did Prince William forgo any opportunity 
that ever presented itself of showing publicly the 
superior esteem which he affected to feel for his 
grandfather — I say affected, for it is doubtful if 
into the shallow heart and mind of that self-centred 
prince a gleam of anything like real discrimination 
of a considerate kind ever penetrated in regard to 



THE OLD EMPEROR WILLIAM 57 

any human being but himself. Had the opposite 
been the case, there can be little doubt that the 
real superiority of the Heir-Apparent as a man 
and a prince — for in those days there was only 
one ruling statesman in Prussia, Bismarck — must 
have been most obviously apparent to him, as 
against the entirely negative personality of 
William I., who, to the very end, was as a docile 
Abiturient * in the hands of the masterful Chan- 
cellor. At this moment, indeed, and in view of 
the history of the past two years in particular, I 
feel certain that history will record the removal 
of the Crown Prince Frederick from an active role 
on the theatre of European politics as the most 
disastrous blow dealt to the House of Hohen- 
zollern since that family succeeded in forcing 
itself upon an unwilling hemicycle of time- 
honoured dynasties. 

It was undoubtedly a fact, and herein I may 
claim to speak from positive knowledge, since I 
was the sole custodian of my master's correspond- 
ence, that the arrival of the Prince of Wales at 
Berlin in the spring of 1887 followed an unusually 
lengthy exchange of personal communications 
between the English Prince and the Archduke 
Rudolph. 2 Such communications were not always 
entrusted to the ordinary mails, I may say, and 

1 We have in English no equivalent for the term Abiturient, 
which really means a high-school student who is about to proceed 
for his Matriculation. — Editor. 

2 This fact I afterwards ascertained, when sorting and re- 
arranging the Archduke's correspondence. The English Prince 
was already in Berlin in March 1887. — Diarist.. 



58 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the reason for this was that Berlin's " letter- 
breakers " did not confine their operations to 
their own capital or country, but operated through 
secret-service agents all over the Continent and 
in England — in Vienna as busily as elsewhere. 
The Archduke, for instance, subsequently made 
use of my own services on several occasions to 
convey a single letter to Marlborough House or 
to Sandringham, as to the nature of the contents 
of which I knew nothing, of course, but which 
must have been of considerable moment, to 
necessitate so much precaution for its trans- 
mission. My master invariably entrusted ultra- 
confidential communications of this kind to the 
very amiable and good-looking Sigismund 
Rokososki, the Cracovian Pole, whom a large 
number of Londoners and Parisians of that day 
will not fail to remember, or else to his cousin 
Stanislas, of the same hospitable tribe. 

At all events, the meeting of the Heir- Apparent 
to the English throne and the Crown Prince 
Rudolph, which took place at Berlin, soon after 
the Liverpool adventure of which I have told, was 
one which had clearly been prepared de longue 
main, as they say. The Crown Princess Victoria 
may be trusted to have been well informed as 
to the nature of the intrigues which were at work 
with the object of keeping the succession from her 
husband, by hook or crook, and to have informed 
her royal brother of its sinister scope and extent. 
It is doubtful, however, if her exalted rank 
would have permitted of such friendships among 



ENGLAND THE OBJECTIVE 59 

important personages of the Court as might 
have enabled her to learn the full extent of the 
machinations operating against herself and the 
Crown Prince, even if she had been a popular 
Princess in Prussia, which she very certainly was 
not. And in any case, the vital political interests 
at stake concerned the future of Austria much 
more than that of England, as far as the most 
keen-sighted might at that time have been ex- 
pected to see ; though, in the light of latter-day 
history — more particularly since the days of the 
Boer War — it is now easy to divine that among 
all the great Powers, England was the nation 
which, even in those far-distant days, was 
especially visee by the militaristic spirits at Berlin, 
then laying their plans to capture nothing less 
than the mastery of Europe. So that when the 
Archduke informed me at Berlin, in the spring of 
1887, that the meeting between himself and Albert 
Edward had been mutually arranged in order to 
discuss the political situation arising out of the 
dynastic conditions in Prussia, I immediately 
decided to make it my business to amplify as far 
as possible all sources of information which might 
serve the interests of the Archduke. In the 
course of this visit I had the honour of being 
presented to Prince Albert Edward. 

Of this Prince so much has been written that, 
coming from a foreigner, anything additional 
might be looked upon by Englishmen as somewhat 
in the nature of an impertinence. Nevertheless, 
it is my decided conviction that English statesmen, 



60 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

courtiers and others with whom he consorted have 
not paid anything like a tithe of justice to a man 
whom thoughtful history will find itself bound to 
call one of the ablest of English monarchs. 
Whether it is that the men who composed his 
familiar circle, being mostly men of action, found 
(or find) themselves unequal to the task of pre- 
senting a true picture of Edward, I know not ; but 
certain it is to myself, and to friends of mine who 
were also privileged to meet the Prince on some- 
thing like terms of respectful familiarity, no 
extant description of him tallies with the person- 
ality I first knew as the Prince of Wales and 
afterwards met as King Edward VII. Or perhaps 
it may have been that, accomplished cosmopolitan 
as he was, the Prince unveiled his real self only 
rarely to the prominent and somewhat insular 
Englishmen who formed his set. 

Indeed, I have often thought that the favour 
which certain Jewish notabilities won from him 
was due in a great measure to the fact that they 
were not only of a cosmopolitan cast themselves, 
but that their houses were also the rendezvous of 
the most distinguished cosmopolitans of their time. 
One has only to translate the word cosmopolitan 
to find that it means man-of-the-world in the real 
sense of that expression ; and this character above 
all was salient in the personality of England's 
great Prince ; so that on putting the term in 
juxtaposition with that other characteristic of 
insularity which, even in these international days, 
remains the boast of Englishmen, one arrives at 



Photograph: W. & D. Downey. 



ALBERT EDWARD. PRINCE OF WALES, 1887. 



AN EXTRAORDINARY BET 61 

something like an explanation of the reason why 
his immediate circle failed in a large measure to 
understand him in such a way as to present 
him in those fine traits which most charmed, as 
well as commended him to, the great Continental 
notabilities of his age. With regard to the 
Prince, I may here recall that on the occasion of 
a reception given by Sir Augustus Paget, then 
Ambassador in Vienna, our Kinsky, on a visit 
from London, in the capital, and whom I have 
previously mentioned in connection with Oberon, 
the Lincolnshire Handicap winner, approached 
me, during the Imperial quadrilles, with the 
following somewhat extraordinary proposition : 

" I will make the following bet with you," he 
said, " since you are open to a gamble. You will 
observe that the British secretaries and attaches 
are represented in force to-night. Let us see : 
there are seven of them present. A thousand 
crowns to two hundred, that if I ask six of them 
what constitutes the chief reason for the popularity 
of the Prince of Wales, five will find themselves 
unable to answer me in a sentence which does not 
contain the word tact or tactful. Is it a bet ? ' : 

I was interested enough to accept this peculiar 
wager, which I was also forced subsequently to 
liquidate, for Kinsky won, as he had prophesied, 
five of the questioned six having fallen for the 
fateful word. Subsequently I regaled the Arch- 
duke at first-breakfast with an account of this 
harmless speculation, which I was certain could 
not fail to amuse him. We were, I recollect, in 



62 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

temporary residence at Laxenburg — where my 
master first saw the light of day, I may say — and 
my story of this bet interested him so much that 
he declared his intention of informing the English 
Prince by letter. And then he added : 

" No, it is not altogether tact with the Prince 
of Wales. I »think he is too irascible to be very 
tactful. Situations are so definitely laid out 
for men in our position that it is only the veriest 
blunderers or the ill-intentioned who fail to be 
tactful. He has always been my good friend, and 
I understand him. His qualities go far deeper 
than tact, which is a surface talent, and on the 
whole I should say that Princes of the Blood who 
are lauded as being tactful are simply gentlemen 
and act as such — nothing more, nothing less." 

After a pause he added reflectively : " Do you 
know, those Americans have an expression which 
exactly explains popularity such as that of the 
Prince of Wales. Out there they would call 
him 4 a prince,' and in America to say of any 
man that 'he is a prince ' is to confer upon 
him a social distinction beside which the Fleece 
would seem, in his opinion, cheap and ridiculous. 
It means, of course, that in all circumstances, 
and at all times, his heart will be found to be in 
the right place, and in the case of our Prince, the 
title would most fittingly apply. Nevertheless, 
it is a feeble enough compliment to pay to a man 
whose main title to the consideration of his age 
is the fact that he represents the best type of prince 
who holds that all things pertaining to humanity 



THE MEANING OF TACT 63 

should also be matters of interest to himself. 
What is the phrase, ' nil humani a me alienum 
puto ' — Horace was it not ? And believe me, 
those monarchs of the future who wish to hold 
their thrones will have to build their policies largely 
on all that is implied in that seemingly trifling 
bit of philosophy. It has guided myself not less 
surely than Albert Edward, and the proof remains 
in the fact that both of us are more popular with 
the middle and democratic classes in our countries 
than we are with the hereditary families, whose 
outlook is essentially feudalistic and totally anti- 
democratic. You know this yourself." 

In the sequel we were, however, to hear more 
of Kinsky's interesting bet, for during the celebra- 
tions held in connection with Queen Victoria's 
Jubilee, the Archduke, on the occasion of a 
man's-party at Marlborough House, related the 
story to his royal host, who received it with that 
somewhat phlegmatic good-humour that socially 
characterised him, but was clearly enough not 
surprised by it. 

" I am myself," the English Heir- Apparent 
explained, " rather wearied with the chronic 
application of that term to my modest perform- 
ances in public and elsewhere. I have no very 
clear notion in what the quality of tact really 
consists, and so I once asked Sykes if he could 
enlighten me. Sykes put on a profoundly in- 
tellectual look and thought very hard for some 
minutes ; then he gave it as his opinion that a 
tactful person was one who always did the right 



64 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

thing. This did not quite satisfy me, and I in- 
quired if he thought the term had any moral or 
intellectual application. He replied that in his 
view the term was purely social in the sense in 
which it was used, that it involved only social 
talent and had nothing to do with morality or 
intellect or anything else — which, as I took care 
to tell Sykes, was rather a tactless explanation on 
his part, and so I gave up my quest for en- 
lightenment. But I really wish the newspaper 
writers would give me a clearer indication of what 
they think of me, or what is thought of me ; in- 
deed, I am of opinion that the popular papers are 
always most foolish when they deal personally 
with the royal family, and what they think pleas- 
ing is in most cases the reverse of pleasing to the 
objects of their flattering paragraphs." 

A remark which I think still applies. 

After which, I recollect, the conversation 
turned on the political importance of great inter- 
national dailies, a subject in which my master 
was completely informed, for not only was he the 
owner and part editor of several papers at home, 
but, as in common with all the Habs burgs he had 
been taught a handicraft, his especial choice of a 
trade had been that of master-printer. In all 
journalistic matters he was a genuine expert. 



CHAPTER V 

An Old Acquaintance in Berlin — I meet Prince Bismarck — His 
Friend Orloff — Bismarck's Secret Agents — Rudolph's Opinion 
of Bismarck — My Regard for the Chancellor 

During our sojourn in Berlin, I renewed, very 
unexpectedly, acquaintance with an old school- 
fellow who was my senior by a few years in the 
days which I spent at the well-known Jesuit 
establishment of Feldkirch, in Austria, one of the 
many great schools belonging to the Order, and 
whence I had passed to a branch school, Stony- 
hurst, in England. The man in question, Koinoff, 
a Pole, had never been one of my intimates, and 
had, indeed, entirely passed from my mind. It 
was at one of the Berlin Foreign Office receptions, 
just after my name had been announced, that he 
recalled himself to my recollection as having been 
a fellow-student at Feldkirch some twelve years 
previously. On exercising my memory, however, 
I was well able to place him as having been one 
of that well-known type of Catholic collegians 
whom their masters are wont to term " rebels." 
The Minimes of Brienne had, in his earlier days 
at that establishment, it may be remembered, so 
characterised the youthful Bonaparte. Koinoff 
had proved to the authorities at Feldkirch so 
intractable and so lacking in reverence for all the 
principles for which the Jesuit educational system 

E 65 



66 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

stood, that on more than one occasion, generally 
as a result of unusually outrageous conduct on 
his part, and after undergoing a sentence of castiga- 
tion — popularly known in the school as " stieger- 
ising " * — it was rumoured that he was about to 
be expelled. The influence of an uncle, a Canon 
of Budapest, secretary of the Cardinal- Archbishop, 
proved in all cases sufficiently strong to save him 
from the ignominy of expulsion, a far greater 
disgrace in Catholic Continental schools, I may say, 
than the English equivalent of being " removed " 
from a collegiate establishment. 

Indeed, in my last year at Feldkirch, the re- 
formed Koinoff had actually been received into the 
minor Scholasticate attached to the institution, a 
department in which those pupils who signified 
their predisposition to what was known as a 
"vocation" for the Jesuit Order went through a 
kind of preliminary training in Jesuitical discipline 
and methods. Some years afterwards, when at 
Stonyhurst, Stanislas Rokososki, a countryman 
of Koinoff, by the way, informed me in a letter 
that as a result of an act of peculiar villainy, on 
his part, the Feldkirch authorities had put the 
Scholastic and his trunk, early one morning, out- 
side the big gates in the St Gall Road, prophesying 
all sorts of misfortune for his future career in life, 
and, as far as the Jesuit Order was concerned, at 
any rate, giving him a first-class anathema. You 

1 As in English schools boys speak of a flogging as being 
" horsed," so the pupils of Feldkirch called their punishment after 
Stieger, the servant who administered it. — Diarist. 



A NON-NATIONAL CREATURE 67 

may imagine, therefore, that on meeting him in 
Berlin I was, at the very least, interested. 

The fellow had, I must admit, an excellent 
appearance, and his manners were above reproach. 
He possessed, however, a combination of two 
features, which has never yet failed me in marking 
down what the English so expressively term "a 
sharp " : his eyes had a distinctly wicked cast, 
and the fleshy part of his otherwise straight 
or Roman nose degenerated into an unexpected 
tilt upwards. Genius, the psychologists correctly 
inform us, is often enough marked by the 
trait known as eye-disparity; but the com- 
bination of strabismus with a nose such as I de- 
scribe can only signify a genius for wrong-doing, 
baseness, treachery and, altogether, is eloquent 
of the presence of the entirely amoral — in my own 
experience. Koinoff, like many Austrian Poles 
known to me, was not so much cosmopolitan as 
non-national — meaning to say that his hypothesis 
of life was based mainly on the central idea of the 
Roman who tabloided the history of the Jewish 
race in the succinct phrase : " Ubi durum, ibi 
p atria " ; and as my capacity for detecting the 
presence of a Jewish strain — aye, even to remote 
generations — is not less acute than was the ability 
of some of those old-fashioned abbes of the seven- 
teenth century who possessed a magical gift for 
nosing out Jansenists, I was under illusion neither 
as to the ethnical nor the ethical quality of my 
Koinoff, and realised that in him lay every 
evidence of being what racing trainers term "a 



68 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

fair throw-back " to Israel. I was, therefore, 
not surprised when he informed me that 
avuncular influence in Budapest had procured 
him a position as attache in the personal service 
of the Prussian Chancellor. 

To have been a personal agent of Bismarck, 
when that statesman flourished, amounted, as I 
well knew, to very much the same thing as to have 
been a member of the corps of bravi or spadoni 
during the hey-day of the Borgias — that is to say, 
the limit of possible performance might be re- 
quired of the agent by his principal. The personal 
agents of Bismarck differed from the ordinary 
or extraordinary secret-service officials of the 
government, inasmuch as they drew their emolu- 
ments from the Chancellor's List, worked in his 
immediate department and were requisitioned 
mostly for work the nature of which was deemed 
to be of too profound and too delicate an im- 
portance for the detectives who acted on behalf 
of the secret police bureau which became so in- 
famous under the notorious Stieber. Among the 
personnel were men of nearly all Western nation- 
alities except British and American. Koinoff 
had been attached only some six or seven months 
previously, and not long enough, it was clear, to 
have as yet realised the demands which the 
position might make upon him. His work, he 
said, consisted mainly in precis and translation 
at the Chancellor's, and he admitted that as yet 
he had never made the personal acquaintance of 
his chief employer, but was serving under his code- 



A SECRET SERVICE AGENT 69 

master, Petri. During my dispatch-carrying clays 
I had learned enough of this functionary, Petri, 
to be aware that he acted in the service of his 
chief, Bismarck, as a kind of master of promising 
novices. Clearly, it seemed, Koinoff was destined 
for important things, provided he could weather 
the tests of the probationary period. I was 
not, however, particularly pleased with the 
effusiveness with which he sought to welcome 
me as an old fellow-student, and made some 
play with the object of cooling any further 
enthusiasm he should feel inclined to show a 
mon egard. 

" Eeldkirch," I remarked, " was, of course, 
the only available Jesuit school open to Germans 
after the expulsion of the Order from this country. 
I presume, therefore, you meet many of our old 
schoolfellows. They were numerous enough there, 
at any rate." 

" All Germans look alike to me, to parody the 
vaudeville song," he answered vaguely ; " and I 
have a bad memory for faces which do not attract 
me. The old names certainly force themselves 
on my recollection; but my position enables me 
to see but little of private society. Indeed, I 
cannot say my experience of official Berlin 
encourages me to remain here, and you may see 
me before very long in Vienna, perhaps." 

" Vienna ! " I exclaimed, with some surprise, 
reflecting how difficult the position of people of 
his irreligious antecedents must prove in our 
capital. " No question of returning to old loves 



70 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

— the Scholasticate, for instance," I added, with a 
little malice. 

" Don't be too hard on me," he returned ; " the 
scholastic episode was a case of force majeure on 
the part of my people. You would be surprised 
to hear, however, that Berlin has become in these 
times a kind of promised land for the abbe manque, 
and Bismarck's department is fairly beginning to 
pulluler with spoiled priests. Even my chief, Petri, 
started in life under a Cistercian cowl, and in 
Austria at that." 

" There are no more Cistercians in Austria 
outside the capital, so it must have been some 
time ago," I objected. " Their last settlement 
was near Baden — yes, at Meyerling, I remember." 

" Meyerling, Meyerling ! " he repeated musingly. 
" Petri asked me a day or two ago if I had ever 
been at Meyerling. No; I do not know the 
place." 

44 It is quite a little hamlet in the hills," I ex- 
plained ; " the Archduke has a shooting-lodge 
there." And at that instant a movement in 
our immediate neighbourhood indicated the ap- 
proach of a personage, and Prince Bismarck was 
announced. 

Previously to my becoming attached to the 
service of the Archduke Rudolph, I had met 
Bismarck, to whom I had presented more than one 
dispatch in person. Whatever men may say 
against his name and character, he must always 
remain to my memory one of its most charming 
personal recollections, and to the end of my days 



BISMARCK AS PRINCE CHARMING 71 

I shall continue to regard him as I regard a select 
number of those masters of school-years who 
taught my youthful and somewhat puzzled ideas 
how to shoot. Towards his own countrymen 
whom he employed there was much of the 
martinet in his attitude, and very few of the 
younger officials really regretted, I imagine, 
the debacle which took place in his momentous 
fortunes a few years later on his dismissal by the 
Kaiser Wilhelm. Towards foreigners, including 
my own countrymen, more especially English- 
men, or even men who like myself had lived in 
and knew England well, he always gave the best 
of that most charming personality which was 
ever at his disposal when he wished to please. 
On my previous official meetings with him he 
had accorded me, whenever it had been my duty 
to present dispatches, often an hour of his valuable 
time, discussing — and he always insisted on speak- 
ing English — all possible conditions of English 
life — horse-racing, fox-hunting, English public 
men, London newspapers, and the various repre- 
sentatives in the English capital of the corps 
diplomatique. It has often occurred to me since 
that these conversations were not entirely dis- 
interested on his part, for on my once afterwards 
narrating to my master the nature of several such 
chats, the Archduke reflected musingly for a few 
moments, and then exclaimed : " The old fox ! the 
old fox ! " Pausing, he added, in his kindly way : 
" But beware of that old man, and say as 
little as you need regarding myself or ourselves. 



72 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

He is the most fascinating man in Europe when he 
wants to be, and I am not surprised that you are 
under his spell. I was myself till they cautioned 
me. In politics occasionally he is the best repre- 
sentative of the homo homini lupus that I know, 
or have read of; but he is always the vulpine — 
vulpes vulpinissima, if ever man was." 

I had not seen the Prince since my arrival in 
Berlin, nor, indeed, since shortly before my 
transference to Karolyi's staff in London; but 
his memory was excellent, and after a few words 
with some of the permanent officials, a kindly 
glance from him motioned me to him, and I paid 
my respects, not altogether unconscious of a quick 
scrutiny which he directed at Koinoff, who trans- 
ferred his attentions just then to another guest. 

" Your Crown Prince has been in Berlin some 
days," the Prince began, " but I have not yet 
seen him. You leave shortly ? " 

" I am afraid I do not know what his Highness's 
intentions are, sir," I replied, "but I do not 
think our stay is to be a lengthy one." 

" What a traveller the Archduke is," he returned, 
with a look of some penetration, adding quizzically : 
" Of course, the steeplechasing season has finished 
in England, I think ? " 

" Your Highness seems clearly entitled to 
know," I answered, with a smile of apprehension ; 
" but I believe the steeplechasing season has just 
closed in England " 

" And so you will not return there just now," 
he interrupted, adding, with mock regret : " How 



A BISMARCKIAN REMINISCENCE 73 

I wish I had the Archduke Rudolph's oppor- 
tunities. He and the Prince of Wales go every- 
where and do everything ; they remind me of my 
lamented friend, Demetrius Orloff, whom I first 
met in Petersburg. Have you met him ? " 

I answered in the negative, adding that I had 
not been in Russia. 

" It was not necessary to know Russia," the 
Chancellor explained, " to know Orloff. He had 
a house in every capital in Europe, and each house 
was at all times in readiness against his possible 
arrival. Sometimes it happened that he himself 
was not quite sure when he arrived in a city 
whether he owned a home there or not, and fre- 
quently, as he walked with his secretary along a 
well-known street, an intuition would come to 
him that he possessed a bit of property near by. 
Then the following dialogue would take place. 
Orloff, raising his melancholy Muscovite face, 
would point to a house on the opposite side of 
the street, and ask his secretary : 

* c ' A qui est cette maison la has, mon ami ? ' 

" His secretary, a countryman of mine, with an 
atrociously bad French accent, would put up his 
pince-nez, examine the house closely, and reply : 

" ' Mais, elle est a fous, monzeigneur? 

" And the phlegmatic Orloff would say : 

" ' Done approchons ; entr-rons ; mange oris un 
morceau; buvons une bouteille ; pr-renons une 
femme, et — partons en Russie. 7 

" Your Archduke reminds me much of 
Demetrius, and has, indeed, the best time of all 



74 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the Crown Princes." And then he added quickly, 
with a mock solemn frown : " But, of course, I do 
not say he does not deserve it." 

This was fairly typical of Bismarck's rather 
bourgeois badinage with younger men, and 
occasionally he used to carry it to extremes ; as, 
for example, when he told Sigismund Rokososki, 
once bearing dispatches to him, that he regarded 
Austrians as the national hermaphrodites of 
Europe. Although a Pole, Rokososki had been 
brought up in Vienna, and resented the aspersion. 
He was a favourite with the Prince. 

" My dear young friend," Bismarck replied 
simply, " I am only logical in what I say ; I was 
the first man in the world to express the opinion 
that there are male nations and female nations. 
The pure-blooded Teuton races, like the Prussians, 
I take to be the male nations ; France and the Latin 
races, as mainly representing the Celts, I take to 
be the females. Those Austrians are neither pure 
Teutons nor pure Celts. I therefore call them 
national hermaphrodites, like the good logician I 
am — voilh tout ! " 

I doubt if any minister ever lived who spoke 
fewer idle words than Prince Bismarck — that is to 
say, outside his very exiguous coterie of familiars, 
such as Bohlen, his cousin, generally known as 
" B. Bohlen," or his sons, Herbert and William — 
the former, by the way, a natural misanthrope 
and by no means the snob he was said to be — or 
his wife, the " sarcastic " Princess who counted for 
much more in Bismarck's career than is generally 



MR BUSCH OF BERLIN 75 

known, for she directed the intrigues which, 
by practically depriving the Princess Royal of a 
personal clique in Prussia, enabled the Chancellor 
to defeat her policies, which were, it was said, 
mainly directed against himself and the elder son 
and their influence at the Castle. The journalistic 
Hausfreund, 1 named Moritz Busch, never to our 
knowledge in Vienna, played the very intimate 
role with Bismarck which he is said afterwards 
to have claimed in the voluminous Memoirs, a 
work that I have not, unfortunately, read. In 
the matter of sheer aggressive impertinence as 
regards quests for information, however, he was 
capable of travelling long distances, literally as well 
as figuratively, for I well remember his chartering 
a special train from Berlin to Vienna, in November 
of 1888, and waking us up at old Laxenburg in 
the early hours of the dawn with the object of 
inquiring if the rumour were true that Kaiser 
Franz contemplated abdicating in favour of the 
Archduke Rudolph. Weilen, my master's very 
intimate friend, and one of the most notable and 
well-informed journalists in Vienna in those days, 
dissuaded me, some years later, from reading the 
Memoirs, mainly on the ground of their un- 
reliability and as representing what Bismarck 
would have liked his Bos well to write about him, 
rather than what Busch should have written in 
the interests of historical fact. 

I repeat, however, particularly in the light of 

1 The Diarist does not translate this word, which means either 
a trencherman or a friend of the family. — Editor. 



76 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

after-events, that even with more or less un- 
important persons, like myself and Rokososki, 
Bismarck rarely spoke without intending that his 
words should " carry," if I may use such an ex- 
pression ; for he rarely wasted words with ordinary 
persons in private and unofficial life, unless, indeed, 
they were foreigners who were likely to give him 
information. Hoyos, who had served in Berlin 
and knew the Prince well, once explained this trait 
to the Archducal company by saying that Bis- 
marck had only one love — Prussia — and that he 
was always scheming for her ; consequently he saw 
farther than other men, owing to his singleness 
of purpose and aim. Once afterwards, in London, 
I heard the same remark made in almost the 
same words about an Englishman whom modern 
history has much honoured — namely, the late 
Mr Rhodes, and the man who made the remark 
was the explorer Stanley. The latter was explain- 
ing to a party of men how Rhodes had refused to 
take his advice and save vast sums of money in 
the construction of the Cape-to-Cairo railway. 
Stanley counselled running it by way of the Great 
Lakes, with the car-ferry system ; Rhodes pre- 
ferred the all-overland route, however, a policy 
which involved a much vaster expenditure. Some- 
one ventured to ask an explanation for Rhodes' s 
decision. 

" Well," replied Stanley, " I suppose it was 
that Rhodes saw farther than other men." 

And the words took me back to the days when 
Bismarck was the first man in Berlin — some said, 



AN ARISTOTELIAN IDEA 77 

the only one. This, however, by the way ; for 
I must recall what the Archduke had to say 
when Hoyos told us in Vienna that the Prussian 
Chancellor's prevision exceeded that of other men. 
I see my master again as if it were yesterday, his 
right arm thrown over his chair, the other resting 
on the table, and remember the characteristic look 
of calm reflection as he gazed at the heavy 
Habsburg opal ring on his white hand. 

" Do you know, gentlemen," he said, after a 
pause, " I never look at Bismarck's face but I 
think of Aristotle's suggestion that it would not 
be impossible to categorise the human race accord- 
ing to the resemblance of men to the various species 
of animals and draw reliable deductions in that 
way as to their salient characteristics. Thus, I 
never see a bloodhound but I think of Bismarck 
— the deep-set eyes with the reddish tinge, the 
heavily arched eyebrows with their suggestion of 
weeping, the nostrils drawn taut towards the 
inexorable mouth and the pendulous jowl. Old 
Prince Charles 1 once told me that on the night 
of Sedan the Chancellor expressed to his table 
company the philosophy he held in regard to war 
when he declared that the vanquished should 
be left only eyes to weep with. Bismarck is a 
quick drinker, and no doubt he had drunk liberally 
when he uttered the phrase. Like most of the 
chiefs of the Long Lip, 2 I have myself not been 

1 A brother of the old Emperor William, presumably. — Editor. 

2 Though it was before my association with the Archduke, and 
I did not hear it said, he once, it was related, in very congenial 
company, with excellent humour, explained the origin of the 



78 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

blameless in this respect, and know what men will 
do and say under the persuasion of Bacchus ; but 
Bismarck never recanted — never denied having 
used the phrase, which has passed into current 
story and may be taken to represent his phil- 
osophy in the matter. Such a man is to me no 
longer human, but animal — a bloodhound in 
human shape, and, indeed, all his conquistadorial 
successes have been due to the fact that, as the 
French say: c II a chasse de race.' " 

Jokai, who was present, as he often was at 
the Prince's table, quietly interjected the word 
" Stieber ! " which in reality means bloodhound, 
and the company very deservedly approved the 
Archduke's bon mot, for all were well aware that 
the Chancellor's chief spy, Stieber, and his organised 
espionage had, far more than Prussian military 
genius, beaten us, in Bohemia, in 1866, and the 
French in 1870. 

All this recurred to my memory at the Berlin 
Foreign Office reception on the night on which 
Koinoff renewed his acquaintance with me, and 
as I looked across at the giant Chancellor, voluble 
and gesticulative, surrounded by a dozen obsequi- 
ous officials, I could not help reflecting that there 
was much in the Stagirite's ideas of physiognomy, 
and that though Bismarck's admirers spoke of him 
as a God-fearing man, there was that in his face 

so-called Austrian Lip on the ground of the Habsburg capacity 
for deep-drinking. The bon mot immediately passed into common 
currency, and to be a " Knight of the Long Lip " was for long a 
well-known phrase in gay Viennese society. — Diarist. 



"BLOOD AND IRON" 79 

which betokened rather a fear of man and gave one 
the key to his policy of Blood and Iron. Neverthe- 
less, I found it hard to divest myself of the early 
regard he had won from me by his very charming 
and unaffected condescension to one of minor 
importance. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Kulturkampf in Germany — Position of the Catholic Body — 
Prussian Official Salons — Austria's National Party and the 
Vatican — Kaiser Franz Josef's Life Story — Rudolph's 
Rationalism — His Ideas about Religion 

By the year 1887, I may say, the aggressive phase 
of Bismarck's Kulturkampf, directed against the 
Roman Church, had given way to a compromise 
throughout Confederated Germany, based prin- 
cipally on the co-operation which the Catholic 
party was willing to afford the Chancellor in his 
fight against those growing radical and really 
anti-monarchical forces which have become 
known in history as the Social Democratic move- 
ment. To use his own phrase, Bismarck, in 
imitation of the Emperor Henry IV., had " gone 
to Canossa " and called a truce with those 
spiritual forces which he had been unable to 
overcome or turn to his own political ends. His 
conceptions had been the same old conceptions 
which, in turn, had moved Henry VIII. and the 
Byzantine Patriarchs in the sixteenth century, 
and later Louis XIV. and Bonaparte — that is to 
say, he aspired to create within the new Con- 
federation a Catholicism akin to the Gallicanism 
which Louis, secretly, and Napoleon, openly, 
desired for France ; briefly a so-called Erastian 
condition of affairs, pure and simple, in which the 

80 



WILHELM, AN ESPRIT FORT 81 

Catholic hierarchy should become the agents of 
the State, and the Pope little better than a 
memory. 

Like most Lutherans, including the chiefs 
of Hohenzollern, Bismarck was bitterly anti- 
Catholic, and made no secret of his hatred of the 
Vatican and all it stood for. On the triumphant 
conclusion of the war against France, in 1870, he 
is recorded to have said that he would not rest 
till, as far as Germany was concerned at least, 
he had shut up Roman Catholicism within the 
walls of the Vatican, and during the struggles, 
or rather the persecutions, attending on the 
Kulturkampf, the phrase held a wide currency 
in Catholic countries. In every phase of his 
fight against his countrymen of this religion he 
had, it is very certain, the whole-hearted support 
of the old Emperor William, and Crown Prince 
Frederick; but, above all, the encouragement of 
Prince William of Prussia, who, as early as his 
twenty-first year, had among his intimates (my 
master often assured me) begun that pose of an 
esprit fort which always finds an opportune plat- 
form in anti-religious or atheistic movements. 
Some years before the time of which I write the 
astuter Chancellor had, however, realised that 
those methods which he had perfected for the 
overthrow of material forces were far from suffic- 
ing when it became a question of fighting purely 
spiritual forces, and like the great statesman he 
was, the Chancellor knew how to bow before con- 
ditions against which monarchs and armies had 



82 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

thrown their might unavailingly for two thousand 
years — namely, the forces of Christianity. 

The result of the compromise was that Berlin, 
which, during the acute phases of the Kultur- 
kampf, had adopted an attitude towards Catholic 
clerics far more emphatically hostile than that 
which marked Paris during the reign of anti- 
clericalism immediately preceding the final dis- 
establishment of the Church and the rupture of 
the Concordat by the so-called Associations Act 
of 1906 — Berlin, I repeat, social as well as political; 
acting under orders expressed through an extra- 
ordinarily well-organised and servile Press, made 
a complete volte-face in respect of its attitude 
towards the Catholic hierarchs and the repre- 
sentatives of the Vatican throughout the Con- 
federation ; a change of demeanour, not only 
welcome to the astute Pontiff Leo XIIL, but one 
which he was quick to turn to the advantage of 
his centred and ambitious self and the Church. 

Naturally, I saw but little of Berlin official 
functions, but the few to which I received invita- 
tions, during the several short sojourns which I 
made by the Spree, when carrying dispatches or 
accompanying the Archduke, reminded me almost 
of some of the great cardinalitial salons by the 
Tiber, thronging with the flower of the Curia's 
courtiers in multi-coloured cassocks, as well as 
the fairest women of the Papal nobility, and at 
which receptions I used often to pass the time 
counting the personages that were not draped in 
frockery. Cardinal-princes, bishops, monsignori 



ANGELS AND BIG BATTALIONS 83 

and nuncios were, at some of the official gather- 
ings in Berlin of the post-Canossa period, 
almost as numerous as the glowering heroes of 
the corps de garde, and, indeed, often struck me 
as the only human-faced actors in these some- 
what stilted scenes of wooden-visaged Prussian 
officialdom. At the same time the Vatican was 
assuring its political footing in the Prussian 
capital by the establishment of a nunciature, the 
directing spirits of which were among the ablest 
representatives whom the Curia could find ; so 
that, much to the disgust of their " predika- 
torial " brethren of the cloth, as well as the 
Lutheran bureaucracy, Roman influences began 
to play a busy role in the social and political 
affairs of official Berlin. 

Now, such a condition of affairs was by no 
means looked upon with pleasure by the growing 
national party in Austria, the unofficial leader of 
which was the Archduke Rudolph, and I will 
state the reasons for this. The Vatican, how- 
ever much it may lay claim to be on the side of 
the angels, has invariably in its history made it 
a sound policy, where possible, to be also on the 
side of the big battalions. In the eyes of Rome, 
Austria was a decadent power, and in the opinion 
of men like Leo and Rampolla that verdict had 
been long since confirmed, not only by the battle 
of Sadowa, but also by the negative role which, 
from 1870 onwards, and the rise of Prussia to 
the headship of the Central Powers of Europe, 
the Dual Monarchy played in active Germanic 



84 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

politics. The Catholicism of the peoples of 
Austria, moreover, is not of that blindly fervent 
type which marks that of the purely Latin or 
Celtic races. It is, to use a phrase coined by a 
part-countryman of mine, who has written much 
on historical matters, " geo-political " — that is 
to say, Austrians, and I include all the peoples 
under Kaiser Franz, will accept so much of 
Catholicity as adapts itself to the varying con- 
ditions of its various nations. In other words, 
there runs throughout the Austrian Empire, in 
respect of its attachment to Catholic principles, a 
strong tendency towards a type of Russian Ortho- 
doxy, which, of course, acknowledges no Papal 
authority. 

I think the exercise of the Veto against Rampolla's 
election to the Papal Chair, in 1903, was a very clear 
indication of the sentiment I mean, for if that Veto 
meant anything, it meant that Austria would not 
recognise a Pope whose avowed policy towards the 
Dual Monarchy was one of denationalising (or, if 
you will, de-Gallicanising, for this is what it 
amounted to) the Church in each separate state, 
and in accordance with the traditional spirit of 
Rome, of " universalising " it. The result of this 
would have been to break the influence of the reign- 
ing, or any Austrian Emperor, whose power in the 
Empire was bounden up with each separate 
nation's attachment to the House of Habsburg. 
The creation of politico -religious factions in the 
different states of Austria-Hungary would have 
been a short cut to disrupting the Empire; and 



CONQUISTADORIAL PRUSSIA 85 

this was the dream of the Sicilian Pope-Elect, 
Rampolla. It is now no secret that Rome obeyed 
the Veto of Kaiser Franz in 1903, for the simple 
reason that she was presented with the momentous 
alternative that if Rampolla were installed in 
the Papal Chair, Austria would have, as the saying 
went, " gone into Orthodoxy " — in other words, 
refused any longer to acknowledge the spiritual 
supremacy of the Pope, and I am convinced that 
only small minorities, in the " geo-political " 
system mentioned, would have refused to ac- 
knowledge Kaiser Franz as head of an Austro- 
Hungarian Catholic Church. 

Apart from the anti- Austrian bias of the Curia, 
mainly composed of native Italian ecclesiastics, 
Rome had seen with a friendly eye the rise to 
power of an overmastering Prussia, which, by 
federating the States of Austria-Hungary under 
its aegis, should bring about the disruption of the 
Habsburg Empire and so assure her ecclesiastical 
aims throughout what are now the dominions 
of Kaiser Francis Joseph. Moreover, Bismarck 
had much to offer the Vatican in return for a 
pro-Berlin as against a pro- Vienna policy. By 
putting a term to the penalism of the Kultur- 
kampf, the Chancellor assured the new German 
Empire all the national benefits arising out of 
the social, commercial and political prosperity 
of a strongly domesticated population ; above 
all, a certain annual accretion in numbers from 
a great body which abhorred the doctrines of 
Malthus in proportion to their material well- 



86 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

being. Further, the Westphalian and Rhine- 
land countries of Germany are, in the majority, 
Catholic ; their nearest neighbour is Catholic 
Belgium. Roman gold had long been subsi- 
dising a strong Catholic party in Holland, and, 
to cut the story short, the Vatican has been under 
no illusions that Prussia, as the directing State of 
Germany, had long since intended to lay main 
forte on the Netherland twins. In fine, Prussia 
was doing for the spiritual power what the 
spiritual power could not, naturally enough, do 
for herself. This, then, was the logic of the 
Vatican outlook. 

I do not imagine that anyone who is acquainted 
with history will deny the evidence of consum- 
mate statesmanship given by the Archduke 
Rudolph in his policy of counteracting the com- 
bination of Prussia and Rome against the Austrian 
Empire, by the formation of a strong national 
party, conceived on democratic lines, throughout 
the Habsburg dominions. The origin of this 
movement was due wholly to his own initiative, 
as well as to his realisation of the fact that only a 
Habsburger could have, with any hope of ultimate 
success, welded from so many various nation- 
alities, mostly unsympathetic if not antagonistic, 
into anything like cohesive unity, a movement 
which, in my opinion, held within it all the 
potentialities of the Tugendbund of 1818 that liber- 
ated Germany from the yoke of Napoleon. The 
creation of a strong imperial nationalist body 
within a multi-nation ed empire like the Dual 



AN IMPERIAL MARTYRDOM 87 

Monarchy was the surest move against the 
machinations, spiritual as well as political, which, 
Roman-wise, were seeking to retain and extend 
the racial divisions in order that Berlin might 
govern. Bismarck himself, for all the splendid 
political genius which was his, could never have 
federated the Austro-Hungarian dominions as 
we know them to-day. Only a Habsburger could 
have held them as they are, and proof thereof is 
shown, even to our time, by the fact that it is 
solely the personal prestige, as a Habsburger, of 
old Kaiser Franz which has enabled the Empire 
to withstand the successive assaults of Pan- 
Germanism and predatory Jewish influences, both 
of which — more particularly the last-named — 
were based mainly on a calculation of the spoils 
which must fall to the agents of disruption. 

Yet even with Kaiser Franz it is true that his 
ability as a monarch has counted for far less in the 
stability of the Empire than a certain enduring 
pathos which has invested his reign from the very 
first — the pathos of an untried and inexperienced 
boy succeeding to vast dominions at the age of 
eighteen, and in times of political turbulency and 
stress ; the pathos of sinister affliction which has 
hovered over his throne since early days ; the 
pathos of martial catastrophe and its humilia- 
tions ; the pathos of swift bereavement and the 
final pathos of old age. Personal suffering has 
done for the Emperor Francis Joseph what glory 
in his lifetime could not effect for the most 
martial of his ancestors, and without the black 



88 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

shadows of misfortune which called forth their 
sympathies, his statesmanship would have availed 
him but poorly against the soul-awakening of his 
many peoples. To have conceived the national- 
isation of his States as a democratic federation 
would have been an impossible feat for his 
imagination ; to have understood its import, 
entirely beyond his sense of the actualities of the 
age. 

At this juncture in the history of my country, 
therefore, the most portentous figure in its life 
was the Crown Prince Rudolph, superb in health 
and with every promise of a lengthy life; in- 
tellectually admitted to be one of the most able 
princes of his time, and certainly the most 
brilliant of his years. Like the majority of men 
of those days, the colour of his mind had been 
strongly tinged with the darker philosophies which 
sprang from the Materialist schools, and inclined 
towards the verdicts of Rationalism. Naturally, 
this fact was not allowed to pass unmarked 
among the conservative and non-political portion 
of our ecclesiastics, who stood towards their more 
liberal-minded Catholic brethren in very much 
the same attitude as the Russian Raskolnik, or 
conservative Orthodox churchmen stand to- 
wards the Stundists or liberals in religion. These 
non-political conservatives were in a minority 
throughout Austria, but, as often happens in 
affairs in which the Vatican plays a part, it was 
a minority wielding tremendous power and exer- 
cising wide influence outside its own immediate 



THE HEIR AND THE HIERARCHS 89 

circle. Above all, it was the wealthiest section 
of our Catholic body in Austria-Hungary and 
possessed a strong hold on the devout popula- 
tions of the agricultural regions. Towards that 
growing movement, of which the Archduke 
Rudolph was the guiding spirit, the conservative 
Catholics, in respect of the hierarchy and clergy, 
at any rate, by no means disguised their senti- 
ments, these being very much the same as those 
which the Church entertained during the latter 
part of his life towards my old friend and neigh- 
bour (in Italy), Senator Fogazzaro, one of the 
leading spirits of that peculiar cultus which goes 
by the name of Modernism, but which, in reality, 
is only a kind of Pantheism, with a thinking God 
thrown in. 

To my master the Archduke, the attitude of the 
hierarchs in Vienna was not unamusing, yet I am 
fairly at a loss to describe it. Princes and great 
nobles meet with extravagant indulgence, in my 
opinion, from ecclesiastics of all denominations ; 
more particularly so, however, from the ecclesi- 
astics of the Catholic Church, who are always at 
elaborate pains to make themselves " solid " 
with people of rank and wealth, and I have 
found, in every country in which I have resided 
long enough to use my observation, that the 
lower the origin of such ecclesiastics, the sharper 
their genius for truckling before men and women 
of the great world. In so-called mission- 
ary countries, where the agents of Catholicity 
are fighting for a footing, this is — perhaps — 



90 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

excusable enough, but it is precisely in Catholic 
countries, par excellence, such as France, Belgium, 
Italy and my own country, that I have found this 
particular trait of the Roman cleric reach its 
most insufferable proportions. Even when a 
student at the academy of Feldkirch, this attitude 
of our reverend masters forced itself upon my 
boyish observation, and I realised that sterling 
merit among pupils of middle-class birth never 
met with anything like the approbation which 
was given to half as much ability and effort when 
displayed among the noble classes. 

In justice to the fellow, I must say that it 
was a sense of this inequality which turned 
the above-mentioned Koinoff into the " rebel " 
he became ; for, intellectually considered, he 
was at least the equal of the best of the Adler, 
and socially immeasurably the superior of many 
of the ecclesiastical gentlemen who did him the 
honour of giving him the benefit of their half- 
baked instruction. I fear, indeed, that many of 
the large armies of " rebels " annually turned out 
by clerical colleges may justly ascribe their in- 
tellectual attitude in after life towards the Church 
to this sense of having in earlier days been dis- 
criminated against by men who take on 
" gentility " with the cassock, or who want to be 
gentlemen first and priests afterwards — a failing 
in most religions. 

The Archduke Rudolph, as most people in his 
day well knew, and himself made no attempt to 
deny, was a first-class sinner. He was especially 



U A FIRST-CLASS SINNER" 91 

strong on what Arthur Potocki used to call the 
" middle " sins, meaning — I always presumed — 
offences against those Commandments which are 
invoiced half-way down the Decalogue, and which 
deal with man's relations towards woman — 
" coverte " and otherwise. He was essentially 
what Carlyle would have termed a " strong " 
man, in the sense in which the so-called Sage 
applied the phrase to Augustus, the Elector of 
Saxony, who had three hundred and sixty-five 
illegitimate children, it will be remembered. 
Like most men of happy fortunes of the boudoir 
kind, however, Rudolph rarely expatiated on 
such matters ; and, indeed, his conversations, even 
among his closest intimates, were always models 
of decency. The only remark I ever heard from 
him which bore upon subjects which are often 
a favourite topic in gay circles arose one evening 
during a discussion on the then budding science 
of Eugenics, when he observed that the father of 
that system was, without question, the enthusi- 
astic Senator who rose up in the Forum and 
moved that an enactment should be added to the 
Statute-Book giving the triumphant Julius Csesar 
access to any woman in Rome, and he quoted the 
passage in point — from Suetonius, I think. 1 

When official ceremonies at Schcenbrunn and 
elsewhere brought the Archduke into contact 
with high-placed prelates, the demeanour of 

1 The statement is certainly to be found in The Twelve Ccesavs 
of Suetonius. The fact is recorded, however, by more respectable 
Roman historians, and is, in any case, authentic. — Editor. 



92 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

these last was always of a perfectly correct kind. 
With ecclesiastics of less powerful position, how- 
ever, their attitudes were of the most ridiculous 
mixture of courtly reverence and ecclesiastical 
deprecation ; and, indeed, as words fail me badly, 
I can only recall one historic episode which fits 
the case. Do you remember when another first- 
class sinner, also born in the purple, Louis XV. 
by name, once held his first Drawing Room at 
Versailles after an illness which his Court had 
fondly hoped would carry him off ; and how the 
courtiers almost tumbled over themselves in their 
anxiety to pay their devoirs and congratulate the 
monarch on his recovery ? Among them was 
one very fat bishop, whose mind was severely 
exercised as to what his precise demeanour should 
be. He wished to give expression to his grief 
that the King should have been ill, and yet he 
wanted to show joy at his sovereign's recovery. 
The very reverend courtier therefore com- 
pounded by presenting himself effusively at the 
throne, his rubicund face suffused with a broad 
and jubilant smile, while his eyes bubbled over 
with hot, beady tears — a picture which proved too 
much for the King and his courtiers, who all broke 
into giddy laughter. Any encounter between 
my master and the minor monsignori of Vienna 
always reminded me of that picture of Versailles, 
from some eighteenth-century French chronicler. 
I once ventured to ask the Archduke his opinion 
of religion in general, and he answered me some- 
what in the following way : — 



RELIGION, A SOCIAL NEED 93 

" I believe, firmly and sincerely, that the case for 
Religion is eternally proved, and that no secular 
movement, as long as the world of men like our- 
selves continues to endure, can successfully assail 
either its existence or its claim to exist. It is a 
social necessity. At present that Religion is, as 
far as the Caucasian race is concerned, the 
Christian Religion, but I am far from prepared 
to say that it will always be Christianity in its 
existing form. Yet Religion I hold to be an 
essential, both for the governors and the governed, 
and a Religion, too, which postulates a God such 
as we are now asked to believe in ; and that for 
the reason that the long history of lay moralities 
has shown beyond any possibility of doubt that 
it is futile to attempt to teach men to be just or 
virtuous unless you suggest to them a super- 
natural Being who, possessing all such attributes, 
is entitled to hold the balance — to judge, to reward 
and to condemn. The ethics of Rome and Greece, 
what did they do towards humanising either 
Rome or Greece ? Strip the Roman of his law- 
sense, in which he excelled, or the Greek of his 
speculative and artistic notions, and you had a 
pair of beings who, in many respects, were not so 
highly civilised as the earliest races that inhabited 
Canton and Lahore, when the line of civilisation 
first began to travel westward, as they teach us 
nowadays. It took the one-God philosophy to 
make the infra-man into a human being, and it 
required Christ to make him a humane man in its 
ideal sense. In other words, it required a belief 



94 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

in one God to humanise man and the lesson of 
Christianity to civilise him. 

" For all that I am convinced that there are 
few real believers in the world, and that the great 
teachers of religion, from Paul to Aquinas, and 
down to our own day, have had little or no belief 
beyond the conviction that what they preached 
had the effect of refining the intelligence or the 
soul of man — in other words, made him respect- 
able and self-respecting ; which conviction indi- 
cates, to my mind, that the Psyche of the Ancients 
and the Soul of the Christian preacher of the 
present, or the past, are practically convertible 
terms — that is to say, mind is soul and soul is 
mind, as the Greek held. The most we may say 
even of the greatest of those who have preached 
the monotheistic faith — for all others are negli- 
gible — is, that they possess hope, simply, and 
that in their excess of hopefulness they confound 
the sentiment with belief. That any thoughtful 
man really and sincerely believes in his heart that 
there exists a God who is personally interested in 
him, I refuse even to think, though I will freely 
admit that I envy the state of mind of any man 
who can truthfully declare that his convictions 
carry him to that length. Given, however, the 
fundamental teachings of Christianity, which are 
educative, humanising and civilising, it must be 
allowed that for the sincere teachers of Religion 
even to hope there is a God — for the majority of 
them neither hope nor believe — is sufficiently 
good grounds for them to urge the objects of their 



A QUESTION OF BELIEF 95 

pious solicitude to believe in one. To that extent 
am I a believer in Religion, and my convic- 
tion remains that it is only to this extent its 
most intellectual teachers advocate, or have ever 
advocated, religious principles." 



CHAPTER VII 

The Vetsera Family in Vienna — Their Levantine Origin — The 
Empress Elizabeth and Marie Vetsera — " Home-Day "- at 
the Hofburg — Love, Immortality and a Cross-Examination — 
I discourse to my Master of Love and " Residual Forces " — 
The Archduke and Women — Confessional — Madame de Stael 
and Napoleon 

The Vetsera family had a peculiar enough stand- 
ing in Vienna, and may be said, by the social 
position which they took up on their arrival there 
in the eighties, to have been the forerunners of the 
cosmopolitanisation of Viennese society, which, 
for the past generation, has wrought almost as 
much havoc with the grand monde of the Austrian 
capital as the introduction of financial adventurers 
and plutocratic parvenus has played in the 
destruction of London society, and, perhaps even 
more so, that of Berlin. As far as I could gather, 
the Vetsera tribe was by way of being one 
of boyar, or squirearchic, origin, which had first 
made its social appearance in either Bucharest or 
Belgrade, I forget which. There was a strong 
Near-Eastern cast in the countenances of its 
various members, and the Baroness Helen Vetsera, 
the mother of Marie Vetsera, was in every respect 
a typical Levantine woman. She belonged to a 
more or less celebrated family of wealth, known 
by the name of Baltazzi, and it was one of her 

96 



THE EMPRESS ELIZABETH 97 

two brothers, Aristides Baltazzi, I think, who 
first came into note as an international sportsman 
by winning the English Derby of 1876 with a 
horse called Kisber, an animal which receives due 
mention by writers of note who witnessed its 
performances — Sir George Chetwynd, for instance, 
and the well-known trainer, Porter of Kingsclere. 
It was currently stated in Vienna that the earliest 
origin of the fortunes of the family was due to the 
good fortunes of an officer in the palace of one 
of the Sultans of a previous age, and in view of 
the subsequent fate of a daughter of this house, 
the suggestive coincidence has been of more than 
superficial interest to me. The name Baltazzi 
has obviously a Graeco-Jewish smack. 

As most people are well aware, the Empress 
Elizabeth was passionately devoted to all matters 
associated with Greece, and the men and women 
of that sediment of a nation always made a 
peculiar appeal to the hyper-emotional mother of 
the Archduke Rudolph. Many of those who were 
prominent in her personal entourage were Greek 
men and women ; some of her ladies of honour, 
one of her private secretaries, her favourite 
reader, were all Levantine Greeks whose presence 
as a subfusc breed much antagonised members 
of the pure white Viennese aristocracy. At some 
Drawing Room or other, held in Vienna, at 
which the Empress was present, Madame Vetsera 
attended, with her daughter, then just out, whose 
appearance at once caught the notice of the 
consort of Kaiser Franz, and, as was usually the 



98 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

case when her sentiments became engaged, the 
august lady invited the young debutante to join 
her personal circle. In Vienna in those days 
Monday was always known among the Imperial 
family as " Home-Day " — that is to say, it was the 
weekly occasion set aside for a reunion of all 
those members of the Habsburg tribe who should 
then be in Vienna, and so great was the sense of 
family and alliance running through this practical 
clan that Kaiser Franz rarely presided at any- 
thing less than a full table. Incidentally, I may 
say, in order to indicate how little difference 
there is between one class of servant and another, 
Monday was always my own " day off." Then, 
unless we happened to be travelling, I rarely saw 
my master after first-breakfast, for he too had 
the family spirit to the full, and gave up Mondays 
to his Imperial parents. It was on the occasion 
of one of these gatherings that he met the youth- 
ful Marie Vet sera, the last days of whom were 
to be so fatefully linked with his own. 

Now my own ideas about Love and Life are, 
perhaps, somewhat bizarre or fantastic, and I 
do not suppose for a moment that many people 
will agree with them. I state them here, not, of 
course, because they are mine, but simply because 
my master and myself once discovered that our 
views coincided on the same subject. To myself, 
the principle involved in the idea of Immortality 
is far more clearly — I had better say plausibly — 
pointed by the forces which operate in what we 
call Love than by any other condition of the soul 



SOUL VERSUS MIND 99 

or mind that I am aware of. Most men in their 
time, and most women, for that matter, undergo 
the experience of meeting members of the opposite 
sex in whom they recognise at least a potential 
affinity, or, if you prefer it, towards whom they 
are at once attracted, the process not being, of 
course, confined to opposite sexes, for men feel 
attracted towards men, just as women are 
occasionally attracted towards members of their 
own sex, with feelings of real friendship and 
camaraderie. I am not a very firm believer in 
what is called the Soul as apart from the Mind — 
that is to say, in that matter I am rather a Greek, 
and do not attempt to differentiate — beyond this 
important reservation, however, that, for me, the 
Mind is the conscious and the Soul the sub- 
conscious. 

The sub-conscious, 1 as all men of experience will 
attest, though apparently the sleeping partner in 
the combination, is by far the more effective 
force, whether in its active operations or in its 
passive condition, and in some proof of this I 
may say that poets and literary men of the 
higher order have admitted to me that they 
work by virtue of what the Greek called the 
inner spirit or daimon within them, a force of 
which they are only conscious in the fullest sense 
at the time. In no other condition of life of 

1 The Archduke used to say that he could best describe the 
working of the sub-conscious by the common enough act of un- 
consciously counting the hour-strokes of a clock, although the 
mind is engaged on some other business. — Diarist. 



100 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

which I know does there exist this dual energy, 
one component of which has the faculty of 
criticising and checking the operations of the 
other. It was at this point in my explanation 
that the Archduke, when we discussed the matter, 
interrupted me. 

' Well, where is your relationship between 
love and immortality ? " he inquired, with a 
narquois smile which was his own. 

" In my view," I replied, " the sub-conscious 
corresponds to what is called conservation of 
energy in the material domain — in other words, 
it is the residual spiritual force which does not 
die and which carries with it through all time the 
memory of previous conditions, personal, local 
und so welter. Accordingly, then, when two 
persons, male or female, meet in such a way that 
their psychical elements come into play, and each 
reveals to the other a liking, an attraction, a 
desire for mutual association, then I maintain 
that the Soul (or the sub-conscious) is simply 
picking up the threads of an ancient fellowship, 
or, I might say, has found its affinity." 1 

" How, then, do you account for the fact that 
men and women who have for a period found 
themselves reciprocally very attractive cease 
very suddenly to regard each other with love, or 
even liking ? " my master asked. 

" That, I should say," was my answer, " is 

1 The Diarist has not hit upon anything very novel in this 
theory, which was taught by Plato, and was known as the 
principle of anamnesis, or previous recollection. — Editor. 



AN OLD KELTIC IDEA 101 

not difficult to explain. Indeed, it proves my 
theory, at least to my own satisfaction. It is just 
the love of a La Valliere against the passion of a 
Montespan, or a Maintenon for Louis XIV. In 
love the mental attitude is everything, conse- 
quently it endures ; in passion it is a matter of 
physical attraction, and if your Highness will 
permit the expression, passion soon becomes de- 
polarised — the circuit soon ceases to conduct. 
So that even our passion must be menage or 
economised." 

" Profound, very profound indeed ! " observed 
the Archduke, with friendly sarcasm. " How old 
are you ? " 

" Twenty-five," I replied. 

" As you have reached that mature age," he 
continued, with affected loftiness, " then, of 
course, you will be able to tell me what happens 
to your ' residual force ' when life leaves the body. 
Expliquez, morbleu " — a common phrase of his. 

"./'?/ ai pense, Altesse" I rejoined somewhat 
sententiously, recollecting Talleyrand on a less 
pleasant occasion. " I have thought of that, too, 
and confess myself in some difficulty. Your 
Highness knows, however, the old Keltic philo- 
sophy which was taught in pre-Roman Scotland 
and Ireland, and which held that man's thought 
was identical with what they called ' world-light.' 
The central idea was that light and thought-force 
were identical, a perfectly plausible and workable 
hypothesis which your Highness may allow me 
to expound one of these days. I often think that 



102 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

primitive thinkers, being nearer real Nature than 
ourselves, were more likely to reach unprejudiced 
and, therefore, truer conclusions as to things as 
they essentially are. Indeed, I see ample proof 
of this contention in the fact that Thales and his 
brother Physicists, who based all their hypo- 
theses of life on the elements, air, earth, fire, 
water — the old Keltic idea — really taught all the 
essential philosophies by which we lay such store 
to-day, simply because their setting is more 
amplified, more recondite — I really cannot find 
the right expression." 

" More complicated, perhaps," the Archduke 
conceded. " Yes, the human mind, which hardly 
understands the obvious, dearly loves a puzzle. 
I agree with you, however, and I think, also, that 
metaphysical philosophy is a fool's science, a long 
process of travelling in circles, which leads to 
nowhere. But you keep our ' residual forces ' 
waiting. What of their fate ? " 

" Well, your Highness," I explained, " I pin 
my faith to the ' world-light ' theory, and this 
being so I am forced to conclude that such forces 
as I speak of have a real locus in the mind, and 
in the work of its cerebral functions. An idea is 
not, of course, stored in the brain, but by what 
a Greek would have termed a photismic or light- 
process, it is always available for reproduction 
when the memory calls for it. On this principle, 
I can properly and fully explain to myself the 
nature of dreams, which, I may say, are far more 
varied and vivid in men and women of historic 



LUCK AND AFFINITY 103 

lineage than they are in those of unancestral 
stock, whose lives have been dull and uneventful, 
and without episode sufficiently arresting to 
photograph itself on the brain-cells. Accordingly, 
then, I maintain that my residual forces return 
to the ether." 

" To be logical, therefore," replied the Prince, 
" and to allow your affinities to meet again, you 
must assume that all beings that existed in any 
given age would all live their lives over again in 
some subsequent age and at the same time. That 
is the philosophy of Tibet, I think ? " 

" I will not subscribe to anything in the shape 
of Mahatmaism or so-called astral influences, 
your Highness. I think, however, that the rarity 
of true loves and true friendships in the world 
points to the conclusion that psychic affinities 
are proportionately rare in their recurrence in 
the process of the suns — in other words, that 
only the lucky ones find their affinities. Ordinary 
cases of love or friendship are cases of conveni- 
ence or social expediency, and both physically 
and psychically they indicate, in the majority 
of instances, that they belong to overlapping 
series, the result being that it is only one couple 
in many hundreds of thousands which ever meets 
its fellow-soul and is happy in the mental and 
psychical sense to which I allude." 

" All of which is, of course, highly empiricist, 
as the scholars term it, and can be argued neither 
to an end nor to a purpose. I agree with your 
ideas, however, as to the mind and the sub- 



104 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

conscious and the deductions as to love and 
friendship which you draw from them. I dis- 
agree heartily, however, with your idea — inter- 
estingly stated, I admit — that women love longer 
than men. That is certainly not the case in any 
grade of life, and least of all in my own. I doubt 
if princes are ever loved for themselves, and even 
if they are they never have the satisfaction of 
realising it by any possible test. You mention 
La Valliere. I do not think she had any positive 
love for Louis, which was not primarily based on 
the hope that she would one day share his throne 
— a venal love, which is no love at all in your 
sense, but rather, as you say, one of social con- 
venience or expediency : ambition, in fine, which 
placed herself first, in reality, and the King in the 
second place. This she would not, of course, 
admit to herself. 

" Women are the eternal victims of self- 
delusion; they have no religious sense as men 
have a religious sense — that is to say, a man who 
really possesses and professes a religion feels him- 
self bound by the ordinances of that religion; 
but by what ordinances will a woman consider 
herself bound when she is given, say, religion on 
the one hand, and on the other, not the man she 
loves, but the man who loves her ? In my experi- 
ence, none; and before her desire to be loved, 
honour, family, God, conscience — all may go to 
the winds of the wide world. The Catholic 
Church has certainly taken the proper measure 
of woman, and I am not surprised at all that 



A QUESTION OF PSYCHOLOGY 105 

certain learned doctors of the Middle Ages should 
have discussed seriously the question whether 
woman really had or had not a soul. Consider 
the Confessional, however ; what an irresistible 
appeal to the only positive quality a woman can 
be said to possess — vanity ! See how beautifully 
it works — both ways ; for its appeal is made 
equally to good characters and to bad, and the 
woman who leads the blameless life is not less 
anxious to advertise her dme blanche to her con- 
fessor, than her sinful sister is to show him what 
an object of interest and unrest she proves to the 
sons of Belial. I am far from declaring, however, 
that some sort of spiritual or mental relief is not 
derived from the act of unloading one's mind or 
conscience of perilous personal secrets that weigh 
one down. You do not, of course, to account for 
this, require to be told the nature of the psycho- 
logical process which is here involved." 

" Auto-suggestion, I presume ? " 

" Auto-suggestion, of course," replied the 
Archduke, with friendly vehemence ; " and it is 
certain that the inventors of this particular form 
of sacrament were excellent psychologists. The 
principle was known, you may remember, to 
Eastern nations, and, of course, you recollect, 
from your nursery days, the eminent Oriental 
statesman of the Fable who, finding himself un- 
able to keep State secrets, was wont to whisper 
them at nightfall to the cabbages and cauliflowers, 
and so relieve his surcharged soul. But his 
political enemies eventually got on his track, and," 



106 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

he added with a laugh, " the poor man lost his 
head in the end, I think." 

I ventured to ask His Highness if he truly 
believed that the principle underlying the Con- 
fessional was a political one, and that, as he had 
said, psychological ideas entered into the original 
conceptions of its value as a political instrument. 
His answer was to the effect that it was only when 
the Roman hierarchy was beginning to gather 
political momentum at Rome, in the third 
century, the need of an organised system of 
espionage upon the community was found neces- 
sary in order to assure the foundations of the 
temporal and political fabric of the Church, and 
the Confessional was chosen as the means most 
suited to the end in view, 1 since hostile intrigue, 
which could not be discovered through the 
men, was fairly certain to be found out through 
the women and children, under Socratic cross- 
examination by astute confessors. 

" But," objected the Crown Prince, " we are 
wandering far away from our subject — woman. 
The attitude of all men of action, more particu- 
larly princes, towards political women should be 
that of Napoleon towards Madame de Stael, who, 
there can be no question, remains the greatest 
woman that history has yet revealed. To have 
worked, and with success, for the destruction of 

1 In his History of the Christian Church the Roman Catholic 
Bishop of Tarbes, Dr Duchesne, declares that in a.d. 150 Hernias 
made no mention of penance, confession or absolution as part of 
Church teaching. — Diarist. [This work was placed on the Index 
in 1912. — Editor.] 



6 



MADAME DE STAEL AND NAPOLEON 107 

Napoleon and his system in Petersburg, in Berlin, 
in Vienna and in London, with voice and pen, 
is an achievement beside which the work of all 
save half -a -score of men in the world's history 
approaches the proportions of distinctly minus 
quantities, while the work of the great female 
sovereigns of the world remains local and pro- 
vincial beside what the daughter of Necker 
accomplished single-handed. And though he 
was the natural enemy of my House, I admit 
that Napoleon was the greatest of all men since 
antiquity. Yet he admitted that had he dealt 
less harshly with Madame de Stael her influence 
as an educative force must have contributed to 
the stability of his throne. At all events his 
treatment of de Stael forced her to prove herself 
not less the greatest woman of the modern world 
than he had shown himself its greatest man. 
Room in the same world for such a couple, and 
in the same age, there could certainly not have 
been. 

"Nevertheless, my mind has exercised itself 
at different periods over a highly interesting 
question which the psychologists of history — to 
give them their new name — have entirely over- 
looked. I present it to them — here it is : Did 
Madame de Stael love Napoleon ? Was her 
political pilgrimage to the capitals of reactionary 
Europe dictated by her desire to restore the 
Bourbons, or to bring back the days of Consular 
Republicanism, which was monarchical in all but 
name ; or was not a disappointed heart at the 



108 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

root of the enmity she discovered as soon as she 
realised that her exile was irrevocable ? I can 
see and will admit many points against my 
hypothesis — one in particular being her perennial 
polyandrousness, as Potocki calls it. Admitted; 
but I could argue, to my own satisfaction at least, 
that her really belle passion in life was Napoleon." 



CHAPTER |VIII 

The Viennese Woman — Concerning Mademoiselle — Her Attraction 
for Rudolph — Archduke taboos Women in Politics — Baroness 
Larricarda's Salon — Changes in Social Vienna — I become a 
Visitor at the Baroness's — Germans in Viennese and European 
Society — I meet Koinoff again — A Conversation at my 
Rooms 

Those who are at all acquainted with Vienna 
will not require to be told that the Viennese 
woman is, in regard to her physical build, quite 
in a class by herself : the small head poised upon 
a somewhat short and protuberant bust, the 
narrow hips, the limbs long in proportion to the 
torso, yet giving a general impression of a petite 
woman — here you have the maiden of the Austrian 
capital, and for all her loftier height and Levantine 
suggestion, this was Marie Vetsera. I have 
known women of all types, but have long since 
learned to understand that in regard to woman - 
flesh, 1 we must accept the Roman poet's maxim 
which tells us that there is no accounting for 
tastes. Horace was it — or Juvenal ? 

Nevertheless, I was not at all alone in my 
opinion that the Archduke Rudolph had dis- 
played a strange enough choice when he conferred 
his imperial patronage on this young lady of 
twenty, who became officially known to us by 
the title Mademoiselle. There were questions 

1 Sic, alas [—Editor. 
109 



110 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

which I could not have put to my master even 
in his most intimate of moods, and I never had 
the hardihood to ask if his fair lady was possessed 
of intellectual gifts. On my own casual judg- 
ment of character, however, for I met her, very 
formally, but on two occasions, I should have 
said that Mademoiselle was altogether a woman 
without serious thought, and the Archduke's most 
intellectual friend, Professor Udel, with whom 
I was on very cordial terms indeed, agreed with 
my verdict in this respect. Of all the men in 
my master's coterie, only Potocki and Bombelles 
had had the advantage of meeting her at close 
range, and as neither said anything in disparage- 
ment of her personality, I concluded that they 
had little to say in glorification thereof, since 
they said nothing at all. 

Strange, too, though it may seem, I was not a 
little irritated by the Archduke's sudden fancy for 
this, to me, somewhat superficial and emotional 
maid, who certainly could not be said to have 
possessed overwhelming contributory gifts in great 
beauty or irresistible fascination to explain the in- 
fluence which she certainly exercised over Rudolph. 
In regard to favourite women, the Archduke was 
an unusually silent man, and at no time would he 
permit his familiars to touch upon the subject of his 
relations with them. All we understood regarding 
Mademoiselle was that she became, in his com- 
pany, the reverse of what she appeared to be in 
the general society of her class ; this was perfectly 
comprehensible to us, for there was none who knew 




Photograph : Stanley's Press Agency. 



MADEMOISELLE MARIE VETSERA, JANUARY, 



MADEMOISELLE VETSERA 111 

better than the Archduke how to draw forth 
from favoured men and women their most deeply 
hidden characteristics. 

Hoyos had seen her display, in the company of 
my master and himself, a vivacity and sparkle 
which (Hoyos declared) would have done justice 
to a very bright Frenchwoman ; on the other 
hand, Udel, who had been more favoured than 
myself in meeting her, declared that the bond 
which united the lady with Rudolph was a certain 
mystical temperament which, if this were the 
case, was a trait common to the two lovers, for 
under certain conditions the Archduke was the 
most mystical of men, a strong vein of supersti- 
tion being the form in which his mysticism 
generally declared itself. In my recollection of 
Marie Vetsera, I must not omit to say that she 
was famed throughout Vienna, as, indeed, were 
all the ladies of her family, for their extreme 
elegance and taste in dress : — a trait not too common 
among my countrywomen, I am bound to admit. 

I am convinced from what I myself learned 
of the Archduke Rudolph's character, and apart 
from what he told me, that, like all men of in- 
tellectual worth, he had very little regard for 
women outside their appointed role in the order 
of things, although he once admitted that he 
never neglected an opportunity of listening to 
what his favourites had to say concerning current 
events ; not so much, he was careful to explain, 
because such opinions represented the views of 
the ladies themselves as because they were, 



112 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

he found, invariably the reflection of sentiments 
expressed by their male relatives and political 
friends. Even for the opinions of the ladies of 
the Imperial family he had but scant respect, 
and it is certain that had he lived to succeed 
to the throne, petticoat-intrigue would have had 
no place in the policies of the Empire ; while it is 
also certain that his very acute sense of external 
political trickery, which even in those days 
recognised how the enemies of Austria were 
using the heart-susceptibilities of old Kaiser 
Franz for their own ends, would have prevented 
the presence at the Court of Vienna of women 
who were practically spies in the pay of Bismarck, 
transmitting to the Wilhelmstrasze all kinds of 
information, or turning the mind of the ageing 
Monarch to counsels which were favourable to 
the Chancellor's schemes. The names of two 
of these favourites of the old Emperor cannot 
fail to recur to the minds of all who possess 
any knowledge of social and political currents 
in Vienna in the penultimate decade of the 
nineteenth century. 

Among Berlin's chartered spies in Vienna, 
during the years with which I deal, one of the 
most prominent was a woman whose name I 
will give in such a form that any person who 
has a sense of phonetics, and who knew the 
Vienna of those days, will easily recognise the 
person in question. I will cair her Baroness 
Larricarda, and refuse to give her proper name or 
title, at this juncture, for the reason that since 



THE BARONESS LARRICARDA 113 

her exile from Vienna, after the death of the 
Archduke Rudolph, her struggle for an existence 
was, and still is said to be, a somewhat pitiful one. 
Viennese society, since the days of Austria's 
eclipse at Sadowa, had sought to conceal the in- 
jured patriotic emotions born of that disaster by 
affecting an hysterical sort of gaiety which was 
somewhat foreign to the real character of the 
people. In my opinion, your genuine Austrian 
approaches more to the racial types to be met 
in Belgium and Holland than to the Germans of 
the Confederation — that is to say, he is essentially 
a serious person, for all his abandon on joyous and 
festive occasions — and to my way of thinking he 
is as keen in commercial transactions as a Hebrew 
or a Scot. And so, like all forced characteristics, 
the new-found frivolity of the Viennese degener- 
ated quickly into a positive mania of wickedness, 
without, at the same time, taking on any of the 
picturesque artistry which conceals — and often 
condones — the refined viciousness of Parisians — 
citizens, also, who, after 1870, went through for 
many years a phase of social madness similar to 
that which affected Austria. About the years of 
which I write, Viennese society was probably the 
most dissipated in Europe, and so became a happy 
mart for ladies of that type which serves the 
foibles of a prince. 

The position of the Baroness — for her original 
social standing was unquestioned — remains another 
indication of the marvellous change which was 
taking place in Viennese society, a change which 



114 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

eventually drove myself and many of my friends, 
in sheer disgust of the new conditions prevailing, 
from our capital. Larricarda had made it her 
system to support the ambitions of the new 
arrivals, armed with vast wealth, but poor in 
pedigree and antecedent ; and, as in every other 
capital in the world, it soon came about that those 
whose purses were long eventually called the 
tune to the leaders of the grand monde — not 
wholly so, of course, but to a large extent. The 
result of this in Vienna, as in other capitals of 
the world, was to create an important enough 
intervening social stratum which became known 
as Smart Society, and which had so much in the 
way of gaiety, versatility and abandon to recom- 
mend it that it attracted elements from all classes 
of the Viennese world — many of the high-born 
not less than the new-rich. Larricarda 's salon 
became consequently a thoroughly cosmopolitan 
one, and though it was non-political, it affected 
a certain democratic sentiment and tone which 
not only sat well upon its adherents, but which 
also made it a refreshing rendezvous for men and 
women of the greater world, who were long sated 
with age-old conventions and formalisms. 

Having said that the Baroness Larricarda acted 
in reality in venal ways for the Habsburg Princes, 
it is only right for me to add that this fact was 
known only to such persons as could be said to 
move within the Imperial circle, whether as 
important officials or else as familiars of the Court. 
It is, of course, giving away no special information 



A GAY VIENNESE HOUSE 115 
when I say that there is not a Court in Europe, 
or in Asia, for that matter, which is not also 
served in this respect by venal spirits among its 
great mondaines. The Pompadours, the Montes- 
pans and Dubarrys did not all pass away with 
the golden age of Versailles and the Trianon ; on 
the contrary, like the Jews, they are always 
available. Baroness Larricarda was, it must be 
admitted, a woman of great social ability and 
tact, and Rudolph, to whom the democratic tone 
and almost vaudeville gaiety of her routs at once 
appealed, became the most consistent patron of 
her salon, as he was also its most illustrious. The 
Vetsera family were not habitues of Larricarda 's 
receptions, and so her house became easily the 
favourite rendezvous for the Archduke Rudolph 
and Marie Vetsera. To myself, as well as to 
the intimate male circle of Rudolph, the Baroness 
showed much kindness, and at her receptions I 
rarely failed to meet one or more of my master's 
most intimate friends— Hoyos, Bombelles, Neu- 
mann, Udel, Teleki, Potocki, Wilczek Weilen, 
Jokai and several more. 

■ Although not a lover of social functions of any 
kind, and much preferring the company of well- 
read and travelled men of the world, I made it my 
business to put in an appearance at Larricarda 's 
as often as I cared to do so ; for as an intimate 
of the Archduke my standing became that of a 
Hausfreund. The reason for this abrupt change 
in my social habits, as far as the Baroness's house 
was concerned, arose from the fact that her 



116 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

establishment also became an unusually frequent 
rendezvous of the German diplomatic body in 
Vienna. I say unusually, because owing to the 
attitude of the Archduke towards Germans — and 
my master was as generous in putting in an 
appearance at important and, indeed, unimportant 
houses, as his friend the Prince of Wales, in 
London — they were only as a rule very sparsely 
represented at receptions outside those given 
by the Emperor or the Ambassadors. Socially, 
indeed, the German, more particularly the 
Prussian, has never counted for much in our 
Capital, and the reason for this is that, taking 
their cue from the Hohenzollern Princes, whose 
attitude towards all other European Princes of 
the Blood is not less insolent than it is farcical — 
for they are the least exalted by birth of any royal 
House in Europe, except possibly that of Sweden 
— your German assumes in the great society of 
the various capitals which I have visited a poseful 
affectation of superiority which might be excused 
if it were accompanied by anything like an easy 
assumption of the part, and not marked by the 
elaborate effort which he invariably puts forth 
in his attempt to enact the role — a pose which 
reminds me altogether of members of the American 
so-called Four Hundred when they endeavour, 
in acting the part of ladies and gentlemen, to 
simulate that unconsciousness of manner which 
characterises your well-bred European of either 
sex. 

Nor was I much pleased to note that among 



SOME PRUSSIAN WATCH-DOGS 117 

the Prussian gentry who attended the Baroness's 
receptions the majority of them gave themselves 
the airs of men who to some extent possessed a 
hold over their hostess, and I have often noted 
that your German, unlike most other men, is 
wholly unable to forgo the petty delights which 
presumably spring from openly displaying towards 
a victim the consciousness of having that victim 
in one's power. As I have said, the Baroness 
was at that time always friendly to myself, and 
I was far from feeling at ease when I noted the 
attitude of certain of these Berlin habitues towards 
her, an attitude on which Udel and Bombelles 
more than once remarked on leaving the place. 
Beyond the notoriety inseparable from a 
socially gay house, few persons in Vienna in 
those days knew that it was the rendezvous 
of the Archduke and his inamorata, so that no 
open scandal whatever attached to the establish- 
ment of Baroness Larricarda at the period of 
which I speak. The hostess, as far as I could 
gather, was of a dilapidated squirearchic family 
in the Vorarlberg region, and had married a 
sporting man who had a varying success on the 
German Turf and who was also said to be inter- 
ested in several of the minor music halls of our 
capital. Up till 1887, their social life had been 
less important, and it was only in the opening of 
that year that the salon Larricarda began to 
attain a notoriety as a rendezvous of great gaiety, 
and people began to whisper that successful Turf 
speculation had refilled the exchequer of the 



118 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

sporting Baron. Certain it is that from 1887 
till the end of 1888 profuseness never seemed to 
inconvenience the hostess of that most hospitable 
of houses. 

It was here one night that, much to my surprise, 
I was accosted by my old schoolfellow Koinoff. 
Much to my surprise, I repeat, for any house which 
was honoured habitually by the presence of the 
Crown Prince Rudolph might have been con- 
sidered an unlikely place at which to encounter 
a social waif and stray ling of the type of Koinoff. 
It is to be remembered, however, that he had been 
an attache of the Berlin Foreign Office, and the 
fact recurred to my memory as he so unexpectedly 
introduced himself. There was a vague and 
troubled air about the old Feldkirchian which 
was in severe contrast with his airy demeanour 
and brave attitude when I had last met him in 
Berlin, and he appeared, I half fancied, to shrink 
under my somewhat close scrutiny, for, to repeat 
myself again, his presence there fairly made me 
wonder. 

44 You are on a visit, I suppose ? " was my 
natural question. 

44 On the contrary," he replied ; 44 1 have come 
back to stay." 

44 And the Chancellor ? Did you find him a 
hard master ? " I inquired. 

44 1 met the Chancellor only once," Koinoff 
said ; 4C and that was when he transferred my 
services to Galimberti." 

44 What, the Nuncio ? " I asked, in some wonder- 



MY OLD FRIEND KOINOFF 119 

ment, for this prelate had been the Roman 
Nuncio in Vienna and had not distinguished 
himself by a very sympathetic attitude towards 
Austria. Indeed, at that time there was talk 
of his being transferred to Berlin, where he was 
a frequent visitor to Prince Bismarck. 1 

"Not altogether to the service of the Nuncio 
himself," Koinoff explained ; " but to his Nuncia- 
ture here. Galimberti is booked for Berlin, they 
say." 

" So I have heard," was my answer ; " but 
are you still in the service of Petri, of whom you 
told me in Berlin ? " 

" My dear friend," the old Feldkirchian 
replied, " it was a matter of money with me, 
and I had, in any case, the option of remaining in 
Berlin or coming home. The Vatican people can 
pay me a better price, evidently, and Bismarck 
permitted the transfer to oblige his friend the 
Nuncio. There is a lack of linguists here, and, 
like yourself, I am acquainted with Italian. 
Besides, after all, this is my country, and entre 
nous, I am not in love with the Prussian. Again, 
I was glad to leave Berlin for one particular reason, 
and that was because their sportsmen gamble 
much too high for the purse of an irregular 
attache. I was under a cloud — riddled with 
debts, my dear fellow, and glad to escape the 
Jews." 

The Archduke was absent from Vienna about 

1 This prelate was subsequently promoted to the Cardinalate. — 
Editor. 



120 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

that time, and was not expected home till we 
should be due to leave for London in June 1887. 
Accordingly I had taken up residence, during my 
master's absence, at a suite of rooms I had long 
held in town. On consideration, too, I made it 
good policy to see something of my old school- 
fellow Koinoff. We therefore walked together 
to my lodging, where we drank a bottle of wine 
and discussed the old days at Feldkirch, on which 
topic, I may say, Koinoff, the ex-scholastic, did 
not fail to prove amusing. 



CHAPTER IX 

Some Capitals compared — London that was — Anglo-French 
Characteristics — Social Changes in England and Some Causes 
— Queen Victoria's Jubilee of 1887 — The Archduke's Party 
in Paris — His Attitude towards Subordinates — Reception by 
the English Court — Attitude of British People towards their 
Royal Family — Upper, Middle and Lower Classes — Women's 
Social Mania — The Archduke and Prince William of Prussia — 
An Apt Retort 

Ever since I learned, in my teens, to know London 
I have retained a large affection for the English 
capital. Berlin, in my opinion, is the cleanest city 
in the world, and Florence the most beautiful ; 
Paris within the past twenty-five years has 
degenerated and become scandalously filthy ; 
Vienna, where I have not lived, nor even visited, 
since the month following the death of the 
Archduke Rudolph, February 1889, always recurs 
to me as an attempt to turn an old Flemish city 
into a modern capital by interspersing its ar- 
chaic structures with spectacular edifices of the 
Renaissance type. You can find within its cir- 
cumference all the historic phases of the Holy 
Roman Empire — later-Roman, Gothic, Venetian, 
Frank, Dutch and Flemish — with always that 
suggestion of the barbaric which you begin to 
feel everywhere east and south of Berlin. The 
people of Berlin remind me of prosperous agri- 
cultural folk endeavouring to play at being ladies 

121 



122 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

and gentlemen ; those of Paris are as keen and 
unscrupulous as Jews ; the natives of Vienna are 
too servilely polite to be sincere, and outside 
Milan, I have no love for Italians — the Janus- 
headed race. In London alone, of all capitals, 
I used to find men natural, straightforward, 
unpretentious and dignified. I say I used to find 
them so, for many changes have taken place in 
the character of London and Londoners of all 
classes, grades and degrees, since I first knew 
both, as a man of the world, in the eighties of 
the nineteenth century. From the death of my 
master I have lived in Italy, but have contrived 
to visit London — where I am still a member of 
the St James's Club — once in every two or three 
years. 

The most salient characteristic I have noted 
in Londoners during the past fifteen years is the 
extent to which they have become Gallicised. 
Many of my English friends who know America — 
I have not visited that country, myself — assure 
me that the English have become Americanised 
rather than Gallicised, and that the resemblance 
between the Americans and the French is much 
more pronounced than is suspected by those who 
do not know America. 1 Not knowing America, 
I am at a certain disadvantage ; but with regard 
to the English people, I cannot help noting that 
while much of the stolidity which marked the 

1 As a result of the War of Independence and that of 1812, 
Americans certainly became very Francophile in their sympathies, 
and correspondingly hostile to English ideas. — Editor. 



SOCIAL CHANGES IN LONDON 123 

time-honoured English types has passed into 
the possession of the French, many of the lighter 
characteristics of the people of France have become 
common to Englishmen and Englishwomen. Yet 
I cannot see that the exchange of characteristics 
has advantaged the English even to the extent 
of bringing to them any of the artisticity of the 
French character, and I feel bound to say that 
a certain affectation of French airs and petites 
manieres, which of recent years I have marked 
in both Englishmen and Englishwomen, is not, 
as acting, less lamentable a failure than, in the 
eyes of those who observe intelligently, it appears 
ludicrous in the extreme. 

I find myself, indeed, in excellent English 
company when I declare that English literature, 
drama, journalism, opera, and even scholarship, 
have all deteriorated ; that its parliamentary 
life has become but the pale ghost of a 
great glory ; that English institutionalism is a 
vanishing quantity ; that the spirit of the last 
unwholesome generation has been the spirit of 
the charlatan and the pretender ; and that all 
this has happened in the past twenty-five years. 
Friends of mine, mostly old schoolfellows of my 
English days, have tried to explain matters to me 
on the hypothesis that free education was pre- 
maturely given to a people which was, in its then 
ignorant condition, incapable of assimilating it 
by a properly graduated process, or rational series 
of steps. The result was the upsetting of social 
equilibria. I am willing to admit all the vicious 



124 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

possibilities of intellectual cramming in the case 
of people who, in the great bulk, have, education- 
ally speaking, inherited nothing, and the brain as 
well as the body looks for its inheritance. I have, 
nevertheless, another opinion on the matter, and 
have heard it from those who were in a position 
to know the mind of Berlin that a set policy of 
those who have directed the destinies of Germany 
since the fall of Bismarck was based largely on 
the fact that England was commercially a non- 
protected country ; it was hoped by means of 
industrial competition to reduce wage-earners 
to the starvation stage, a condition which must 
react on the physique of that class from which 
the Army and Navy are principally drawn. 

As a visitor to England in 1903, 1 was a witness 
of the acute phases of that terrible poverty of 
which Berlin militarism always dreamed as certain 
to lead to that national unrest and rebelliousness 
upon which they calculated for the realisation of 
their ambition to " square their account " with 
a practically effete and disrupted nation. All 
classes in England suffered by the policy of 
Berlin ; unrest was everywhere, and everywhere 
English ideals were being steadily undermined 
by the forces working for their destruction. As 
an Austrian I have heard from relatives how, 
before our downfall at Sadowa, similar policies 
were put into operation with the same sinister 
purposes and effects in our own country ; and as 
a " retired " Austrian, if I may use a phrase which 
jumps to mind, I am a happy spectator of the 



A SHORT STAY IN PARIS 125 

certain doom of Prussian designs in the case of 
Britain. Further, as I am neither writing of my 
own country nor yet living in it, I venture to play 
the role of prophet when I declare it my belief 
that the past prosperity of England will prove, 
once Militarism is destroyed, to have been as 
mediocre compared with that which must ultim- 
ately open for all classes of her sons. Yet I 
never expect to see again that leisurely and 
stately England of 1887. 

Travelling orders and preparations were given 
and executed very rapidly on the eve of our visit 
to England in June of the Jubilee Year. We 
spent a day incognito in Paris, where, as he never 
failed to do, the Archduke visited the Tomb of 
Napoleon, 1 there to indulge in some mystical 
reflections, as was his wont in all things concerned 
with that most formidable adversary of the House 
of Habsburg. The afternoon was spent with 
General de Gallifet, one of the most intimate of 
the Archduke's French acquaintances, and the 
evening saw us on our way to England. Our 
journey to Paris had not, I may say, been of the 
pleasantest, for the Crown Prince had left Vienna 
in the worst temper which, as far as my experi- 
ence went, I had yet witnessed in him. Certain 
arrangements which had been made for a pro- 
tracted stay in the English capital had, owing to 

1 The reflection is startling enough — Bonaparte was by marriage 
the grand-uncle of this scion of a hundred Imperial Habsburgers ! 
It is hardly less startling to reflect that Bonaparte himself be- 
came, by his marriage with Marie Louise, a nephew-in-law of 
Louis XVI. — Editor. 



126 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

unexpected objections on the part of Kaiser Franz, 
perforce to be cancelled, the whole visit being 
consequently curtailed save as to the central 
ceremonies concerned with Queen Victoria's 
celebrations. 

The originally proposed visit was to have 
lasted, if I remember correctly, a fortnight; we 
were to have renewed our acquaintance with the 
English Turf and arrangements had been made 
for the Archduke to inspect the famous racer 
Bendigo, while purely academic visits had been 
planned to several museums containing ornitho- 
logical treasure, a science in which my master was 
deeply interested. Among these academic visits, 
one in particular does not escape me, for it con- 
cerned the meeting of the Archduke with a certain 
Mr Ricardo, then sojourning very unpretentiously 
in London ; this name disguised the personality 
of one of the most learned men of his age — namely, 
Prince Lucien Bonaparte, a son of that famous 
Lucien Bonaparte whose great political abilities 
made him a source of much envy and fear to his 
omnipotent brother. This engagement, as the 
event proved, was the only one which the Arch- 
duke insisted on keeping under the curtailed 
programme. The visit had been planned with a 
view to discussing the historical value of certain 
coins which during a hunting-trip the Prince had 
unearthed at Meyerling in the previous winter. 

To repeat myself, then, Rudolph had left 
Vienna in the worst of tempers, and it was only 
by our arrival at Paris that he had recovered the 



A PRINCE AND HIS SERVANTS 127 

usual serenity of his disposition. Towards those 
whom he disliked I have seen him display so 
forbidding a demeanour that I have positively 
felt ashamed to have to witness it ; and my uncle 
has declared himself in the same way regarding 
old Kaiser Franz, whose occasional ferocity of 
temper towards tried servants of State one would 
hardly suspect in so benign-looking a monarch. 
Towards those whom he liked, on the other hand, 
Rudolph was as a comrade, a characteristic he 
no doubt acquired from his years of military 
service, and officers who served at Prague with 
his first regiment — the 36th Infantry — have 
assured me that no regiment in our Service had 
ever had a more popular subaltern. Unlike the 
men of the Hohenzollern family, who were, in 
those days, known for their inhumanity to their 
body servants, I doubt if any prince ever treated 
those who served him in a menial capacity with 
greater kindness than the Archduke, a trait, I 
was assured, which also characterised Kaiser 
Franz in his relations with humbler dependents. 

The story of the first famous Jubilee of the 
illustrious Victoria has been written in history. 
I was privileged also to witness that of 1897, 
and in the way of Imperial pageants each of them 
established a record of which the proper chroniclers 
have duly told. My countrymen, I rejoice to 
be able to say, have always been received with 
favour by the English of all classes, and in the 
case of the Archduke Rudolph I may say that the 
reigning Queen- Sovereign displayed towards him 



128 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

a cordiality far greater than one might have 
expected from her towards a prince of my master's 
somewhat hectically coloured life. I am, how- 
ever, with Lord Byron in regard to the pre- 
conceptions formed by women, and believe with 
the English poet that at heart every woman is a 
rake — matron just as much as maid. I have had 
the privilege of studying royal women at closer 
range than is afforded most men, and cannot see 
that there is less human nature in a princess than 
in a woman of ordinary rank ; indeed, I have 
heard my august master declare that there was 
very much more, and he was certainly entitled 
to know. To all women the Archduke was an 
object of much curiosity, owing to his reputation ; 
a reputation, I may say, which exaggerated his 
iniquities with about the same facile untruth- 
fulness as modern rumour overestimates the 
fortunes of the great spectacular plutocrats, who, 
of course, have no objection to people thinking 
them many times richer than they are. It was 
a source of much pleasure to our Austrian con- 
tingent in London to note the great respect which 
on all hands was given to the personal repre- 
sentative at Victoria's Jubilee, of the most 
splendidly historic throne in the world. For all 
his superb exterior, no such deference was paid 
to the Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia — with- 
out question the most imposing figure in the 
memorable Jubilee cavalcade — as was accorded 
to the somewhat simple, silent and unaffected 
heir of Imperial Austria. 



PEERS AND PROLETARIANS 129 

Here I must record, as chronologically due, 
a conversation with which the Archduke indulged 
me respecting the peculiar demeanour of ladies 
of the middle classes in England towards their 
Royal Family. The attitude of Englishmen of 
all classes towards their Princes seems to be one of 
somewhat frigid reverence, arising, no doubt, from 
the physical and psychical strain, due to the act of 
violently suppressing emotions — a characteristic of 
the Englishman. In most monarchical countries, 
in which the principle of aristocracy prevails, there 
is, in my experience, a much more cordial under- 
standing between the lowest class and the highest 
class than between the highest and the interven- 
ing orders . It is so in Austria, where men of great 
position are frequently to be found on terms of 
considerable intimacy with intelligent men in the 
lower orders of the social system. 

In England I have noted the same phenomenon, 
and have witnessed with pleasure very friendly in- 
tercourse on the part of great nobles towards men in 
inferior positions in life ; towards the middle classes, 
the same nobles observe an attitude of frigid aloof- 
ness which only the most spiritless and servile of 
creatures can tolerate without open resentment ; 
on the other hand, the lowest orders display, as 
regards the parvenu classes, a demeanour not 
lacking in respect, but covertly eloquent of 
question and criticism. In Continental countries 
known to my experience I have never seen, 
among their middle classes, anything of the 
servility towards the upper, and more particularly 



130 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the princely order, which I have noted on the 
part of Englishwomen who have social ambitions ; 
and it was a saying of the Archduke Rudolph, 
who admitted its derivation from his friend the 
Prince of Wales, that if a woman of the British 
upper-middle class were offered a choice between 
the kingdom of Heaven and presentation at 
Court, there would be no upper-middle class 
British females in paradise. 

His Highness, who knew English literature 
extremely well, went on to quote the philosophy 
of some English poet whose name I do not now 
remember ; the quotation was to the effect that 
while Love is only a small consideration in the 
life of a man, it is woman's whole existence. 
With so banal a verdict as this the Archduke 
could not, he confessed, at all agree, and I admit 
I remain entirely of his mind. He could not, he 
declared, believe in the so-called goodness of 
woman just because she was a woman, any more 
than he could think that a woman became an 
angel because she produced a child ; nor did he 
think woman had any monopoly of that goodness 
upon which true love must be founded — self- 
sacrifice, mainly. Consequently, he could not 
accept it that she had only one object in life — 
love. 

She had other objects in life, most of them 
the reverse of spiritual — namely, dress, social 
prominence and the vanities attaching to these 
ambitions, and if all this was due to her desire 
to encourage men, then woman was in reality 



VENALITY OF WOMAN'S LOVE 131 

no better than she ought to be. Even mother's 
love in the majority of cases was, he thought, 
based on the hope of renewing through the 
children the hopes of one's youth and shining in 
the reflection of any brilliancy that might accrue 
to one's offspring — also a material ambition, as 
the history of family divisions, small as well as 
great, went far to show ; such divisions being due 
in nearly all cases to the inspiration and worth- 
lessness of the woman as a wife and a mother. 
All of which led my master naturally to con- 
clusions which were later to receive a certain 
indoctrination in the work 1 of a young Viennese 
Jew, Otto Weininger, who, as it happened, only 
expressed views which had long been held in 
common by the Archduke Rudolph, Professor 
Udel, Baron Neumann and, if I may add it, by 
myself. 

On our return to Vienna a few days after the 
Jubilee celebrations had concluded, a story had, 
we found, preceded us, and obtained currency 
in several papers. I give the substance of the 
various versions here, and can personally add 
my testimony to the general correctness of the 
statements made ; for though not present at 
the royal table at the house in question, I was 
with Hoyos an invited guest, and in any case, 
in the course of the day, the story obtained full 
currency. 

1 Obviously the work entitled Geschlecht und Charakter , 
which created a sensation on its appearance. Its author com- 
mitted suicide. — Editor. 



132 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Among those who represented Prussia at the 
Jubilee of 1887 was Prince William of Prussia, 
who had accompanied his illustrious father, the 
Crown Prince Frederick, on the occasion of 
this great family gala. On the day following 
the Jubilee celebrations the Archduke Rudolph 
and Prince William, with several younger royal 
Princes, were among the guests at a lunch given 
by one of the most distinguished and probably 
at that time one of the wealthiest members of 
the English House of Peers. Conversation at 
international royal gatherings is, as a rule, of the 
least political kind, there being a fixed convention 
that all references to serious political questions 
shall be taboo, as, indeed, a common sense of 
diplomatic decencies would itself suggest. It has 
been told how, during the Jubilee celebrations, the 
Archduke Rudolph had been accorded a reception 
at the hands of British officialdom, the respectful 
cordiality attaching to which had far exceeded that 
shown to the representative Prussian Princes. 

At all events it may have been the cause of 
a certain chagrin to Prince William of Prussia, 
who, according to what I learned at the 
time, and just after the episode, from one of 
the Karolyi Embassy, directed his efforts with 
unusual persistency towards a discussion of 
political matters connected with the growing 
national-party movement in Austria, at the 
head of which, as everybody knew, was the 
Archduke Rudolph himself. Although I heard 
nothing from His Highness himself on the subject, 



PRUSSIAN VERSUS AUSTRIAN 133 

I was assured that the tone adopted towards the 
Archduke was not only aggressive and derisive, 
but was meant to be publicly offensive towards 
Austria, and in such a way that English listeners 
should not fail to learn a lesson therefrom. With 
unheard-of boorishness, the Prussian sought to 
point out to the Archduke, to the consternation 
of all present, the hopelessness of Austria ever 
attempting to rise again to the power she had 
once held m Europe, and, he suggested, the 
movement towards the formation of a national 
party in Austria could have no other inspiration. 
The Austrian Empire, he urged, hung together 
only by virtue of the fact that Kaiser Franz had 
already reigned nearly forty years. It would 
not and could not, he declared with vehemence, 
survive his death ; at that event the disruption 
of the Habsburg dominions was certain to come 
about, all the more so because Austria, he con- 
cluded, lacked leaders of statesmanlike quality. 

" All of which points to the certainty," said 
the Archduke, with pleasant dubiety, " that on 
the death of the Emperor Francis we may expect 
to receive a visit from your Armies ? " 

" The permanent arrival of Germany to the 
headship of Germanic Europe is not less clearly 
written in the stars than is the settled decadence 
of other rivals within the same field," replied 
the Prussian ; " and when the hour strikes, my 
country will know how to secure the welfare of 
the Teuton races in Europe, by giving them the 
benefit of Prussia's genius for governing." 



134 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" Then, that being the case," replied the Arch- 
duke pointedly, " and as your Highness appears 
so sure of the facts, I, for one heir to a throne, do 
not desire the death of my father." 

The retort, meeting the aggressor so aptly, 
silenced the Prussian Prince very effectually. 



CHAPTER X 

I go into Chambers in Vienna during my Master's Absence — An 
Unexpected Visit from Koinoff — A Question of Finance — 
Koinoff's Nationality — His Career, Present and Past — I am 
willing to accommodate him — Koinoff as " Tommy Atkins '-' — 
How he beat a Prussian Spy — Koinoff and his Honour — A 
Success at Cards 

In the autumn of 1887 the Crown Prince retired 
to Meyerling for a season's sport, granting me 
conge during his absence. Accordingly I took up 
residence in my chambers close by the Hofgarten, 
with the fixed determination of setting about an 
enterprise I had long contemplated — namely, a 
German version of Thackeray's inimitable Barry 
Lyndon. But, bless you, Dis aliter visum — the 
gods had decided otherwise, and I had hardly 
been installed when my troubles broke out. On 
the first evening of my arrival into private 
quarters, Bratfisch announced the presence of 
my old schoolfellow Koinoff. According to 
my policy, I decided to see the ex-Feldkirchian 
whose ill-concealed troubled air on our last meet- 
ing had called up a chord of latent sympathy 
which I had somewhat unaccountably discovered 
on his behalf. Like the practised man of the 
world he was, Koinoff took no lengthy time to 
disclose the motive of his business, for hardly 
had he seated himself than he put the question 
to me straight. 
135 



136 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" I am in trouble," he said ; " can you lend 
me some money ? " 

My own financial circumstances had improved 
considerably since my attachment to the service 
of the Archduke, who was no less generous as an 
employer than he was punctual as a payer — to his 
employees. Also my run of luck with the horses, 
at home and abroad, had continued fairly good 
up to date, and the Archducal coterie, acting 
on information which the ever-faithful Kinsky 
transmitted me from London, had included 
Roquefort and Merry Hampton among very 
fortunate speculations since our previously noted 
success at Liverpool in the previous spring. My 
balance was decidedly on the right side, and as I 
studied the pale and worn face of my old school- 
fellow, I made a mental resolve that he should 
not go away unrelieved of his anxieties, if, within 
reason, I could help him. Besides, I had an end 
in view. 

"As you may guess," I replied, "my means 
are somewhat limited and my expenses not light ; 
but if you will give me some idea of the extent 
of your requirements, I will see." 

" I have already given you, I think, a fair idea 
of the situation," he replied ; " but it is worse 
than I suggested to you on our meeting in June 
last — has unfortunately grown worse, and the 
Jews are not less relentless than my luck is black. 
I am badly pressed for fifteen thousand gulden 
(£1500) and see no way of getting that sum, 
if you should find yourself unable to help me." 



KOINOFF AND HIS SOUL 137 

This was a much larger sum than I had 
ever lent to a friend, and, even in the existing 
prosperous enough condition of my account, 
would have meant a heavy draught on my 
resources. 

" May I ask," I inquired, in (as I felt) the tone 
of one who is of opinion that he is entitled to 
cross-examine, " how you came to contract 
liabilities to this extent ? Bismarck's department 
is noted, I think, for its scant treatment of 
employees. The Vatican paymasters are also 
known for their parsimony, I have always 
understood." 

" I am not," replied the Feldkirchian, " an 
amateur of the race-horse method of gambling, 
as you may, or may not know. Cards have been 
my particular form of the vice, and I have lost so 
heavily to the Prussian contingent which, as you 
know, visits so frequently at Madame Larricarda's, 
that I am actually beginning to fear for my 
soul." 

" And the Nunciature — is it known there that 
you gamble your substance for the benefit of the 
Prussian contingent ? " I inquired. 

"You are aware," replied Koinoff, "to what 
extent the German Embassy and the Nunciature 
are en liaison. They know that I am a visitor 
at Larricarda's, and indeed I am obliged to the 
secretary of the Nunciature for the wherewithal 
to indulge my tastes. He is my creditor to a 
considerable extent, though he has given me 
unlimited time." 



138 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" Under certain conditions, of course ; or 
rather obligations ? " I suggested. 

" M'yes, if you will," answered Koinoff vaguely ; 
" but they are not definite obligations. I am not 
bound to compromise myself or anyone else, 
you see." 

" They may not look to you to compromise 
anyone else," I objected. " It may be sufficient 
for them that you compromise yourself with 
them. Has that not occurred to you ? To visit 
at Baroness Larricarda's, where your standing 
among the habitual guests there can only be one 
of uncertainty, may or may not compromise you ; 
but to gamble with men who are not only a 
thousand times wealthier than yourself but who 
also always win your money, as you admit by 
implication — that, my dear Koinoff, is compro- 
mising yourself very deeply. You do not, I 
presume, think that the Nunciature is supplying 
you with money wherewith to gamble, solely out 
of pure love of yourself — do you ? " 

" As some proof that I am not exactly such 
a fool," replied the Feldkirchian, " I have just 
admitted to you that I feared actually for my 
soul — I still believe to that extent." 

" In other words, then, I am to understand," 
I suggested, " that you consider yourself to be 
the victim of a conspiracy which is seeking to 
involve you so deeply that you must in the end 
find yourself forced to — m'render service, shall 
we say ? " 

" You have put the position into words," 



A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY 139 

replied my old schoolfellow ; " and now you 
know why I am here. What is it we used to say 
at Feldkirch — non cuivis contigit adire Corin- 
thum. We cannot all get to Corinth ; but surely 
none of us is required to go to Hell. I have 
already gone a long way in that direction, but I 
stop at giving a mortgage on my soul." 

" And if you are successful in finding your fifteen 
thousand gulden — what then ? " 

" I become at once a candidate for manu- 
mission, dear boy ; I buy myself fifteen thousand 
gulden worth of liberty, and become a free 
man. In other words, I return to the simple 
life." 

" Well, my dear Koinoff," said I, "I can 
promise you your required sum ; so relieve your 
mind on that score. But let me ask you : of 
what nationality would you call yourself ? " 

" How can you ask ? As an old Feldkirchian, 
like yourself, I am an Austrian," he replied. 

" But," I objected, " as an ex-agent of the 
Berlin Foreign Office, you are also a Prussian." 

" Tut," came the ready explanation, " in the 
service of Berlin no birth-certificates are required. 
All Bismarck asks is a certificate of character, and 
it must be a certificate of bad character at that. 
You see, my friend, I was not, like yourself, 
porphyrogenitus, as we used to call it at Feld- 
kirch — not born in the purple, and had to make 
my own way. Did I ever tell you, for instance, 
that I was a private of Field Artillery in the 
service of Queen Victoria ? No. Well, you see, 



140 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

I was, as it happens ; but I am not, for all that, a 
British subject. Like yourself, I am proficient in 
the language of Shakespeare, and in London they 
could never tell I was a foreigner until after the 
nth bottle, when my fs and d's used to quarrel 
for precedence, and then they took me for a 
German. Well, in London once I met an agent 
of the Berlin Secret Service who, knowing my 
proficiency in the vernacular, offered me the then 
very acceptable sum of one hundred pounds if 
I would enlist in the Field Artillery and find out 
certain details concerning guns, which he was 
anxious to obtain for the Headquarters Staff in 
Berlin. I did not like my gentleman very much, 
and was angry that he should have taken me to be 
one of his own kidney. I determined, therefore, 
to teach him a lesson and at the same time do 
a little business on my own account, for I was 
hard up and wanted money badly. 

" I therefore agreed to his terms, stipulating 
for an advance of some twenty pounds in case 
of accident, so that I should be able to purchase 
my discharge — which is ten pounds under three 
months' service in England. I was at once and 
without question accepted, and began my training 
at Woolwich, and after a few weeks my friend 
began to worry me hard to find out things. He 
was pressed, he told me, for the information, and 
I began to reflect that if, as I could easily have 
done, I obtained and gave him the information 
he required, I might have to whistle for my 
money — if faces went for anything. So I began 



A SECRET SERVICE AGENT 141 

to remain in barracks of evenings and refused to 
go into town after duty hours. My friend, as I 
expected, began to write me little notes, begging 
me to come and visit him, and anyone with an 
eye for calligraphy could tell that the writer had 
been made in Germany. This was exactly what 
I wanted. One evening I issued forth and he 
took me to his rooms — an elaborate suite — and 
then some fun began. I wore the heavy artillery- 
man's cloak, and in one of the pockets had put a 
service revolver. On the way to his rooms I 
informed him that I had all the information he 
should ever require about British ordnance. When 
we reached his lodgings he divested himself of 
his overcoat, seated himself at his writing-desk 
and prepared to hear the tale. And as he com- 
fortably fixed himself in his chair, I drew the 
revolver and covered him. 

" ' Hands up ! ' I cried ; ' I am an English 
detective.' The hands went up with typical 
Prussian obedience almost before my man had 
recovered his senses. 

" ' Good,' I said ; ' you just keep them up 
and let me examine your pockets.' I examined 
his pockets, but could find no revolver. Knowing 
the Prussian Secret Service man, however, I also 
knew he would not travel without arms. 

" ' Where is your revolver ? ' I demanded, 
advising him at the same time to keep his 
hands at high level. He motioned to his over- 
coat, and in it I found a six-chamber, which I 
pocketed. 



142 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" ' Now,' I commanded, ' walk over to that 
corner by the door, and turn your face to the wall. 
Keep your hands up. When I have examined 
your valise and pocket-book I will let you know 
what o'clock it is.' His keys were on the table 
and I had already taken a wallet from his breast- 
pocket. In both I found bank-notes worth over 
two hundred pounds, besides letters and post 
cards, all of Berlin origin. When I had pocketed 
the bank-notes and documents, I again com- 
manded him to turn about — still hands up. Then 
I took stock of the room, a second-floor front 
parlour with only one door, the windows over- 
looking a steep area with spiked railings, as I 
already knew. He would never, I was certain, 
risk his life by trying to jump for it. 

' ' There was a free space to the opposite angle of 
the room, and I commanded him to walk to it. 
Taking the key from the door, I inserted it on 
the outside. Still covering him with my revolver, 
I advised him to make no attempt to escape, pend- 
ing the arrival of the police, turned the key in the 
door and left the house. I had my Prussian both 
ways, for I knew he would not dare to denounce me, 
and as I also had his money safe in pocket, con- 
cluded that he had been severely enough punished. 
I consequently did not trouble the police, and I 
knew he would not. The next day I put down 
a ten-pound note for my discharge, and within 
a week was back in London. The Spartan 
morality of this transaction may, of course, be 
open to question, but when this Prussian scoundrel 



THE POINT OF HONOUR 143 

took me for a spy I felt sorely hurt in my honour 
— but why this sudden hilarity ? " 

" Let us not try to pluck bright honour from 
the pale-faced moon, as a certain great poet puts 
it, Koinoff. Let us be serious. Do you know 
Count Bombelles ? " 

" I have seen him at Galimberti's, but never 
met him." 

" Would you like to meet him ? If you wish, 
he can be very useful to you, and as you are 
leaving the Nunciature, you will probably require 
useful friends. Can you meet me, say, about 
five o'clock to-morrow evening ? He may be 
here then, but, of course, I cannot say definitely. 
In any case, come ; and supposing him to be here, 
I advise you to say nothing about your departure 
from Feldkirch or your adventures in England. 
I will make things very smooth for you, and you 
will be far better with us than with the Nuncios. 
As to your cheque — if there is nothing very 
pressing, I will let you have one to-morrow night 
for the sum you mention." 

The Feldkirchian having assured me that 
there was nothing pressing m regard to his 
financial difficulties for the moment, we drew 
our meeting to a close with a promise to meet on 
the following afternoon. 

In the sequel, I lost nothing by my advance 
to Koinoff, since Bombelles, who in such matters 
— he was Rudolph's Lord Chamberlain — was 
master of the Archducal Exchequer, reimbursed 
me on the ground of private expenditure on behalf 



144 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of the Crown Prince. Koinoff passed into our 
service, although Bombelles flatly decided that 
he should retain his position at the Nunciature 
and continue to visit at Baroness Larricarda's 
establishment. The old Feldkirchian was advised, 
however, to avoid the card-tables, and he pro- 
mised to do so, although, in connection with his 
surrender of this especial vice of his, he was the 
cause of a characteristic and amusing enough 
episode. Among the Germans who had won most 
of the Pole's money was a military attache named 
von Duglas, said to be of Scottish origin and 
particularly keen in money matters. He it was 
who had caused the old Feldkirchian to visit the 
Jews, and apparently the attache had looked 
forward to a successful winning season with the 
member of the Nunciature. Koinoff had, I knew, 
lost to him fifteen thousand gulden, all of which 
had been faithfully paid over. About the time 
he had arranged to come into the private service 
of Bombelles he had also discovered, in the 
ordinary course of perusing correspondence from 
Berlin, that it was the intention of the Foreign 
Office in the Wilhelmstrasze to recall Duglas, who 
was to be replaced by another military attache, 
one of the Waldersee family, I think ; the new 
arrival was due to report for duty in Vienna on 
1st October, while Duglas would in due course be 
notified to return to Berlin on exactly the same 
date. 

The latter had, I was assured by his in- 
tended victim, been continually pestering the 



INTELLIGENT ANTICIPATION 145 

Feldkirchian to resume play, and refused to accept 
Koinoff's decision to give up the cards. By 
questioning him, the Pole discovered that, as late 
as the evening of 30th September, Duglas was as 
yet in ignorance of his coming recall to Berlin, 
and as the military attache still persisted in 
seducing him from his resolve, Koinoff decided to 
teach him a lesson. He could not, he told Duglas, 
afford the long runs of ill-luck which had followed 
him in former sessions at the card-table with the 
military attache ; besides, he added, he was no 
match scientifically for Duglas. 

Nevertheless, to prove that he had not been 
chagrined by his losses, he would give the Prussian- 
Scot a set. As Koinoff foresaw, the astute Duglas 
allowed him the full length of his tether in the hope 
of winning everything back with interest on the 
following night, and as so often happens in such 
cases, the cards were wholly in the Pole's favour, 
the total result being that Duglas lost back to his 
old victim much more than the latter had just 
recently paid him. On return to his quarters, the 
Prussian attache duly found the peremptory letter 
of recall to Berlin, his revanche as against Koinoff 
being thus adjourned indefinitely, much to our 
new recruit's advantage and pleasure. 



CHAPTER XI 

Kinsky arrives in Vienna — Occupies my Flat — We discuss the 
Crown Prince Frederick's Malady — Also the Future Kaiser, 
Wilhelm II. — His Napoleonomania — Professor Buckle's 
Ideas — Prince Henry of Prussia and a Danseuse — To Berlin 
for the Obsequies of the Emperor William I. — I meet Count 
Herbert Bismarck — Prince William's Dislike of Herbert — The 
Dismissal of Ministers considered — Napoleon's Mistakes — 
Fascination of all the Bismarcks — Herbert a Misanthrope — 
A Choice of Emperors — Hoping for the Best — I study some 
Enigmas — Meeting with Wolfram 

For the New Year of 1888 " London " Kinsky, 
as we used to call him, on private affairs from 
England, arrived in Vienna. At his own sugges- 
tion, and during my absence on duties with the 
Archduke, he occupied my flat for his intended 
brief stay. Accordingly, and also for the reason 
that soon the Archduke began paying a round of 
private family and other visits, I was enabled to 
see more of my amiable friend than would have 
been possible in normal times. At the suggestion 
of the vigilant Bombelles, and acting upon informa- 
tion which Koinoff had given us as a result of his 
experience among the service-agents of Berlin, 
I made my visitor acquainted with the special 
precautions we had for some time been taking to 
watch the political currents, under-currents and 
cross-currents which made Berlin in those days 
the cynosure of much diplomatic speculation. 
And of course the case of the Crown Prince 

146 



KINGS AND CROWN PRINCES 147 

Frederick entered for a great consideration into 
our conversation, as indeed, it was a topic of 
much interest everywhere in Continental Europe, 
in view of the ambiguous personality and character 
of the prince who was to succeed him. Already 
as to the fatal nature of Frederick's malady there 
also existed much speculation and interested 
factions were all preparing against the possibilities 
hidden in a darkly apprehended future. 

44 St James's still talks of Rudolph's retort to 
Prince William," Kinsky observed one evening; 
" and there are many, I think, in London, as well as 
here and in Berlin, who consider that the innuendo 
touched truth. Yourself — what do you think ? " 

44 The history of thrones has nearly always 
discovered opposition between reigning princes 
and their future successors," I replied. 44 The 
House of Hohenzollern has given proofs, through- 
out, of greater possibilities in this respect than 
any other dynasty, and has certainly shown more 
intrigue in its Crown Princes. And intrigue does 
not always stop at political opposition and personal 
hates. Parricides have been common enough in 
history, and I am not of those who think that 
mankind, including Crown Princes, bien entendu, 
has improved morally simply because we have 
several hundred more religions than in the ages 
when poison entered more publicly into political 
combinations." 

44 Everything is, of course, uncertain, and all this 
is mere speculation," said Kinsky, who was my 
senior by some years ; 44 what is certain, however, 



148 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

is that Prince William is the head of a small but 
select faction which is ambitious of seeing him 
reign, and few of them would object to any means 
which would give him a swift accession. He is 
not more popular in London than elsewhere, but 
there it is the general opinion that his advent to 
the throne at this time of his life will mean, first, 
as regards ourselves, completing the work of 
reducing Austria to the condition of a German 
State, an act from which Bismarck himself shrank 
after Sadowa ; and secondly, as regards France, 
a renewal of the attentat of 1875, when consoli- 
dated Germany, but for the attitude of Russia 
and Britain, would have attacked her again. 
Bismarck is right, and knows why Antipater is not 
Philopater, as he puts it, the whole matter being 
one of personal ambition on the part of Prince 
William, who does not care how soon his sire is 
translated. Have you heard of his latest-found 
mania ? " 

" You mean the imitations in the style of 
Frederick the Great ? " I suggested. 

" No ; still higher than that," replied Kinsky. 
"His most recent pose is Bonaparte, and the real 
reason why he was so long laid up at Charlotten- 
burg was not because of his alleged illness, but 
because he had already gone the length of the 
requirements of the picture by shaving his upper 
lip — a breach of the military regulations, of course. 
His Consort, they tell, is suffering an especially 
bad time as a result of this Napoleonomania, and 
daily has to listen to querulous retorts of the 



PROFESSOR BUCKLE'S NOTIONS 149 

"ordinary -laws-do-not -apply-to-me " type — Bona- 
parte's stock excuse, you may remember, when 
Josephine used to discover him with strange 
women. But surely you have heard that Prince 
William imports all his vegetables and table- 
poultry from Ajaccio ? " 

" Indeed no ! And why ? " I inquired, in much 
wonderment. 

" You surprise me, for it is known in London," 
returned Kinsky ; " but it is a positive fact. 
Prince William has lately been reading the English 
historian of Civilisation, Professor Buckle. This 
luminary's central idea is that men derive their 
specific characteristics, mental, moral, physical, 
und so weiter, principally from the food on which 
they are " raised," as the Americans say. Thus 
the Chinese derive their temperamental calm, 
or stoicism, from the fact that their staple food 
is rice ; on the same analogy, an Englishman 
derives his mental robustiousness and stamina 
from his devotion to beef ; and when you reflect 
that the Prussian is practically brought up on 
pig and sauerkraut, you do not require to 
meditate any further on the causes which have 
made him not other than he is — if Buckle is right. 

"Now observe : Prince William read the Pro- 
fessor's work and its ideas made an instantaneous 
appeal to his type of mentality. It was about the 
same time that he was excogitating his Napoleonic 
pose, and like most of the inspirations of genius, 
it flashed upon him that, given the logic of the 
Professor's hypothesis, Napoleon must have owed 



150 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

much of his conquistadorial characteristics to the 
products of the soil upon which he lived for the 
first decade of his life. And the result is that 
almost everything William eats nowadays is 
directly imported from Corsica. But you appear 
to doubt me, my dear fellow ? I assure you 
there is no cause to doubt what I say. I had it 
from Wolfram. You remember my young cousin 
Wolfram ? He is a big fellow now, lives in Berlin, 
and is so enamoured of it that he threatens to die 
there — that is, of course, if he is not murdered 
there." 

" I remember him well, a very pleasant youth. 
But why murdered ? " I asked. 

" Why, you see," replied Kinsky, slowly puffing 
his cheroot, " he has antagonised some important 
people in Berlin — Prince Henry the Navigator 
among them. You remember Christiane Strom- 
berg, the operatic star ? " 

" I remember her," I replied ; " the particular 
friend of Prince Henry, a very buxom Swede." 

" Well, Christiane has deserted the Navigator 
— and for Wolfram. She and her Prince have 
quarrelled very badly, and the Swede threatens to 
tell all she knows if he persists in annoying her. 
As a financial speculation, Wolfram is well worth 
the exchange, for you know the Hohenzollern 
breed, and the boy is, in any case, far better off. 
But the worst aspect of the affair is that Christiane 
is seriously iprise of Wolfram ; and in Berlin it 
is a bad thing when the Castle is despoiled, as 
they say there." 



COUNT HERBERT BISMARCK 151 

" Is there any particular reason for him to remain 
in Berlin ? The world is wide," said I. 

" There is no reason," replied Kinsky, " except 
his infatuation for the capital, for he does not 
like the natives, and is as anti-Prussian as Rudolph 
himself could desire. But he is like all our tribe, 
hartnaeckig — obstinate, and even the suggestion 
of danger cannot fail to keep him where he is 
if he decides that it will prove exciting to do so." 

I was to meet my young friend Wolfram much 
sooner than I expected, and in connection with an 
event which took us, as representatives of Vienna, 
to the obsequies of the old Emperor William, who 
passed away in the early part of March 1888. 
On the day succeeding our arrival in the Prussian 
Capital, and during the early morning walk which 
I have not once missed in thirty-five years, I met 
Herbert Bismarck in the Gardens. He was 
certainly a most forbidding person to look at, 
and it was well known that Prince William of 
Prussia — by this time Crown Prince — was fairly 
unable to face the disconcerting fixity of look 
which characterised Bismarck Junior. Indeed, 
it is telling nothing that is not well known among 
diplomatic officials who knew Berlin then, that 
it was much less fear of the elder Bismarck — the 
old Emperor and even the Crown Prince Frederick 
were certainly in abject fear of his overmastering 
method and manner — than a sheer inability to 
face the younger, that moved William II., on his 
subsequent accession, to rid himself of the possi- 
bility of having to employ the latter by dismissing 



152 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the former, who in giving to his eldest-born 
the highly important post of Foreign Secretary 
— which he now held — had practically designated 
his successor in the greatest office in the State. 

Neither is it any secret — more especially at 
this time — that the extravagant reputation which 
William II. has won since his accession has been 
due in the first place to a very ably organised 
personal press-agency, which keeps him well before 
the world ; and in the second, to the undoubted 
fact that his ministers and chosen commanders 
are men who are afraid of him — a characteristic 
which he and all masters who choose the line of 
least resistance like to find in their subordinates. 
In this respect, both his grandfather and father 
clearly showed their possession of a higher and 
truer patriotism than Kaiser Wilhelm has ever 
shown; for much as the elders disliked their 
masterful and often contemptuous Chancellor, 
they fully realised their own puny importance for 
Germany beside him. 

I trust I do not offend the historical intelligence 
of the reader on recalling that when Napoleon 
developed his mania for dismissing men who were 
able to face him and argue with him, the stability 
of his Empire came at once into question; and 
it is an interesting enough historical consideration 
that his decline coincided with the dismissal of his 
very ablest servant — Talleyrand. Indeed, one of 
the most human and pathetic cries which we hear 
from Napoleon in all his turbulent career is that of 
1813, after Dresden, when he calls in vain for his 



A NATIONAL MISANTHROPE 153 

old Foreign Minister in the tragic words : " Ah, si 
favais cet autre ; il me tirerait bien d' affaire ! " * 

There was certainly a wondrous fascination 
about all these Bismarcks when they cared to 
exert it ; but it is also certain that in respect of 
their powers of fascination they were excellent 
economists. Charm which is always and for ever 
dispensing itself on all who come within the radius 
of its operations, in the end becomes about as 
effectual as the perennial optimism of those curious 
little beings who do not realise that it is the 
pessimists who rule the world — the men who seek 
in toil to forget that they are alive, and anent 
which M. de Voltaire has taught us something 
in his philosophy of cultivating one's garden. I 
have stated my opinion elsewhere that Herbert 
Bismarck was a natural misanthrope, though I 
feel bound to say that his dislike of mankind did 
not extend to its fairer portion. He had few male 
friends, and, like most men of ability, neither 
sought to extend his friendships, nor looked for 
that most cheaply achieved of all acquisitions — 
personal popularity. I had met him perhaps 
oftener than any other grand official of the Berlin 
world, and though under no illusions as to the 
depth of his regard for myself, had always found 
in him a cordiality and courtesy which much more 
important men of my acquaintance envied me. 
Our recognition was reciprocal. 

1 The analogy here suggested is obviously meant to have a 
general application to the policy of William II. as regards able 
servants ; for had Bismarck been alive in August 191 4, his age 
would have been nearly one hundred years ! — Editor. 



154 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" You come under doubly melancholy circum- 
stances," he said, in his high, "tearful" voice, so 
like his father's. " Indeed you may find it con- 
venient to prolong your stay ; the shadow of 
Death still remains." 

I looked at him questioningly, and he answered, 
in very solemn tones : 

" You have heard that the Emperor Frederick 
is also laid low ? The Prince was summoned 
before dawn this morning. We are within an ace 
of two Imperial funerals. Has that ever happened 
in history, or is Berlin to establish the precedent ? " 

I confessed that I had never heard of the simul- 
taneous burial of two sovereigns of the same 
dynasty. 

"We had, of course, heard in Vienna," I said, 
" that the Emperor Frederick's case was very 
bad ; but the latest reports there are that the 
surgeons can succeed in prolonging his life. I 
was at San Remo with the Archduke, and there 
the same opinion prevailed." 

" These are fables, my friend. For my father's 
sake, as well as for Germany's, I would give my 
right arm tha,t such might be the case. But it 
cannot be ; his death is all but registered. We 
shall soon have a new Kaiser, and " — he added 
thoughtfully — " with the new man, new measures 
— who can say ? What does the Archduke 
think ? " 

I was quite well aware what the Archduke 
thought about the matter, and had no misgivings 
whatever that the Bismarcks were perfectly well 



HOPING FOR THE BEST 155 

acquainted with his view that, given the chance 
to live, there was some hope of prolonging the 
Emperor's life. The elder Bismarck feared that 
the overwhelming influence of the English Empress 
Frederick over her husband must mean the 
lessening of his own influence, if not his destruc- 
tion ; on the other hand, like most old men who 
have lorded it long, he overlooked the danger to 
himself of the accession of a vain youth like Prince 
William, still in his twenties. As often happens, 
however, with very strong men, Prince Bismarck 
feared the woman and favoured what he thought 
to be the less dangerous alternative — Prince 
William. Herbert Bismarck, on the contrary, 
nearer the age of the youthful Crown Prince, was 
better fitted to divine the intentions of the head- 
strong William, and realised that the true German 
patriotism of the Emperor Frederick was likely 
to override the influence of his English Consort. 
This at least he made clear to me, for in answer 
to his question as to what the Archduke thought, 
I replied, with just a touch of enigma : 

"As an Austrian, Count, my master hopes for 
the best. All Europe, I think, wishes to see the 
Emperor Frederick reign." 

" Well," he answered candidly, " when I told 
you that for my father's sake, as well as that of 
Germany, I would sacrifice my right arm, I too 
showed that I hope for the best. My father's 
policy towards Austria has always been the best 
policy. Do you know that the dead Emperor, 
to the very last, had his eyes fixed on Bohemia ? 



156 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

If the Emperor Frederick, who hates war, were 
given a long reign, my father's policy would 
endure. If he dies — ah, then I could certainly 
not hope for the best." And we parted. 

I was sufficiently well acquainted with diplo- 
matic ways and means to be aware that this 
expression of opinion by Count Herbert was not 
intended to remain locked up in the breast of the 
Archduke's personal secretary. The Bismarcks, 
both father and son, were first-class Prussians, 
and loved their country as religious men love 
their faith. And I knew that any " best policy " 
adopted as regards my own country arose in no 
way from sentimental consideration entertained 
by Bismarck towards the House of Habsburg. 
Indeed, had Russia replied favourably and fully 
to his advances in those days, the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire must long since have been 
dismembered. As it was, she served as the only 
effective buffer state between Russia and Germany, 
and Bismarck was a past master in making 
virtuous acts, which were forced upon him by 
sheer policy, to appear as if they sprang from 
conscientious and honourable motives. 

So, then, what was I to think ? Was this a 
warning from Bismarck, voiced through his son, 
to the Archduke Rudolph, that in view of the 
certain doom of the Emperor Frederick, and 
the succession of a prince with William's known 
proclivities and ambitions, Germany would re- 
gard as openly hostile to herself all attempt to 
promote a strong national democratic movement 



A CHANCE ACQUAINTANCE 157 

among the peoples of the Dual Monarchy, 
and would present Austria with the alternative 
of war in case of her refusal to fall in with the 
Chancellor's views as to what was most suited 
to her internal policies ? Or was the conversa- 
tion suggested by the elder Bismarck to his 
ever-filial son, with the object of destroying any 
suspicions that all was not well in the consulting- 
rooms of those who had the charge of preserving, 
if they could, the life of the Emperor Frederick ? 

Meditating these enigmas, and much immersed 
in them, I felt a friendly hand laid upon my 
shoulder, and on turning beheld the person I was 
most anxious to see — Wolfram. 

" My cousin has written to me several times 
from London," he said. " I know you want 
to talk." 



CHAPTER XII 

San Remo's Crowd of Notables — Physicians and Surgeons — Sir 
Morell Mackenzie — Political Aspects of Frederick's Malady 
—His Consort's Intervention — What History will say of 
Frederick's Death — Bismarck's Russophilism — An Imperial 
Counsel — Bismarck's Press-Agency Work — Austrian and 
English Views — Foresight of Two Heirs-Apparent — Real 
Greatness of King Edward — A Romanoff Grand Duke — 
Rudolph's Independence of Character — German Gutter-Press 
Stories — The Archduke's Title to Respect — His Versatility — 
An Essay and Some Correspondence 

Before visiting Berlin, two important visits 
were made by the Archduke Rudolph, who was 
accompanied by Count Potocki and myself ; one 
to San Remo, where many royal and imperial 
notabilities had assembled, among them the 
Prince of Wales and also Prince William of 
Prussia, whose sire was already in residence at 
this time, under the care of that group of physicians 
of whom mention has been made in previous 
chapters. I am not especially a believer in 
physicians of what is called, I believe, the patho- 
logical breed, as apart from the Jilsculapians, who 
carve into us, saw unhealthy portions of our 
frames, treat us for organ -troubles and otherwise 
play butcher's shop with our anatomical furniture. 
Myself, I have found the three-day starvation 
cure on a milk diet do all that my ailments have 
ever required to effect their removal, and an 
erstwhile countryman of mine, the Carinthian 

158 



WHAT HISTORY WILL SAY 159 

Doctor Bancke, was, so far as I know, its inventor. 
The experts surrounding Frederick were, however, 
the first surgeons in German countries, and I am 
far from wondering at the jealous irritation they 
displayed when Doctor Morell Mackenzie appeared 
on the scene as chief operator on the stricken 
Crown Prince. 

It is not my purpose to go into the question of 
Mackenzie's fitness for this particular work. To 
my own way of thinking, he was a transparently 
honest Englishman, and what he had to say 
publicly regarding the intrigues which played 
around the couch of the Crown Prince Frederick 
proved a sufficient answer to his adverse critics. 
I regard rather the political point of view, and 
although the suggestion was only faintly heard 
at the time that the Prince's death was hoped 
for by a prominent camarilla of militarists in 
Berlin, there is no reason now for disguising the 
fact that this was really so. Accordingly, it is 
not surprising to hear that it was at the insistence 
of his English Consort, the Crown Princess Victoria, 
who might be expected to understand the con- 
ditions of the entire case, and who acted in co- 
operation with the Prince of Wales, that the great 
London surgeon was summoned — perhaps too late 
— to attend on Frederick. 

It requires no vast imagination to foresee what 
truthful history will have to say anent this episode ; 
it must in any case consider it, not only in respect 
of the master spirit of a conspiracy which was 
willing to go to the extreme of crime in order to 



160 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

achieve its ends, but more particularly in view of 
the crimes of Meyerling and Serajevo, which must 
suggest themselves as corollaries to the nefast 
intrigues surrounding the last days of the second 
Emperor of the German Confederation. And 
where has history failed to state the ineluctable 
law of compensation ? In which case has it not 
demonstrated that power bought by crime can 
be maintained only by crime ? That even a 
militarism like that of Napoleon, led by the most 
spectacular military genius of the world, could not 
survive in a reasoning age, nor live except in the 
dreams of minds diseased ? Yea, History itself 
is the first best argument for the existence of 
God, as well as for the principle of retributive 
Justice in the world. 

Among the many notabilities at San Remo, in 
the winter of 1887-1888 was an eminent Grand 
Duke of the Romanoffs, who has since passed 
away. At this time, I may say, Prince Bismarck 
was working all the forces he could assemble, 
with the object of maintaining the very specious 
friendship which Prussia was professing towards 
the Muscovites. In a previous decade he had 
been successful in detaching Russia from any- 
thing in the nature of an entente with France, a 
traditional idea in Franco-Russian policies dating 
from the Second Catherine's day. Memories of 
the Crimea had not entirely died out in Russia. 
France still remembered 1870; Bismarck had 
played on every possible antipathy nourished by 
the two Powers, and about this time he was in a 



BISMARCKIAN PRESS-AGENTS 161 

position to congratulate himself on a successful 
achievement in point. Although chronologically 
I am out of place, I wish here to state that the 
advice, in regard to Russia, said to have been 
given to his son and grandson, the Crown Prince 
Frederick and Prince William of Prussia, by the 
old Emperor William on his death-bed in March 
1888 — namely, to do all in their power to preserve 
the good will and friendship of the Tsar Alexander 
— this, I may say, was a pure invention of the 
Prussian Chancellor, and was given by Bismarck, 
through his henchman Abenken, to the Press, as 
having been the spontaneous counsel of the dying 
monarch. Here, indeed, was a very characteristic 
piece of Bismarckian press-agency work, the 
echoes of which he meant to work their effects 
on all the Powers which are to-day at war. Proof 
of this bit of strategy on the part of the Chancellor 
was given us in Vienna by the chief of the well- 
known Taafe tribe. This . Austro-Irishman, as 
he was fond of calling himself, was then Prime 
Minister to Kaiser Franz, and possessed excellent 
sources of information. 

As it may be supposed, the Bismarckian idea 
was far from commending itself either to my 
master or to his far-seeing friend, the English 
Heir-Apparent ; for under the conditions of a con- 
federated Germany, anything in the shape of an 
alliance between Russia and the Confederation 
must have meant a revival of the old Napoleon- 
Alexander idea of Tilsit days — namely, a division 
of the Continent, in which Eastern Europe — includ- 



162 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

ing part of Austria — would have been at the mercy 
of Russia, and Western Europe at that of Germany. 
It is testimony to the statesmanlike prevision of 
both the Archduke and the Prince of Wales that 
more than a quarter of a century before the War 
of 1914, both of them had clearly foreseen that 
Prussian ambitions already contemplated a tem- 
porary division of Continental Europe, after 
which one final war would be waged between the 
twin masters for the possession of Constantinople 
and the maritime supremacy held by England. 

Personally, I have been privileged to listen to 
conversations held by my master and the English 
Prince, in which was discussed the programme as 
mapped out in a work much read in recent years — 
namely, the forecast by Baron Bernhardi as to 
Germany's conquistadorial ambitions ; and when in 
these days I reflect on those discussions, I realise 
that the two heirs had forecogitated Prussia's 
plans almost to the last intention. This fact itself 
explains why the English Prince, on acceding to 
the Throne, lost no time in preparing France and 
persuading Russia, in the course of those memor- 
able visits which practically aligned in battle order 
the forces of Liberty against those of Feudalism, 
and it is for this reason I hold that history will place 
that English King among the greatest of Britons. 
But, alas, by the time of Edward's accession, 
Rudolph had many years been buried with a 
hundred Habsburg forbears under the old Capuchin 
Church of Vienna, and a withering change had 
come upon the spirit of my country's vision. 



ATTACKING AN HEIR-APPARENT 163 

With the Grand Duke from Muscovy, one of the 
haughtiest and least affable of the Romanoffs, 
who was then visiting San Remo, matters were 
under some constraint as far as my master was 
concerned ; for, as I have previously stated, 
Rudolph was the veriest of Kelts in his inability 
to disguise feelings of antipathy, and the Russian 
was well knoAvn to him to be in sympathy with 
Bismarck's Russophile notions and schemes. This 
characteristic of the Archduke was, in the opinion 
of men who knew him better than I could have 
known him, due not so much to any ideas that 
his exalted rank excused him, for he was the 
bravest of men and permitted neither himself nor 
others to show an unworthy arrogance to those 
placed in a position inferior to his own, or to that 
of his companions ; and so it was that he was most 
popular with the humblest of those who served him. 

Intellectually he was a man of great independ- 
ence, and was capable, as the Prince of Wales 
once told him, in my hearing, of contradicting 
even Mr Gladstone, had he considered that 
eminent student and statesman to be in the 
wrong. It was in him, for example, to appear in 
the funeral cortege of the old Emperor William 
in the uniform of the Bohemian Regiment of which 
he was Colonel, although etiquette dictated that 
he should have appeared in that of a Colonel of 
the Prussian Army. Those who remember the 
German Gutter Press of those days will have no 
difficulty in recalling a series of attacks which 
were made on the Archduke as a result of his visit 



164 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to San Remo, where, it was said by, among others, 
the Hamburger Nachrichten, his role was merely 
" that of a busybody." 

A story was related of a public quarrel in which 
he had indulged with the Russian Grand Duke of 
whom I have spoken — a scene which had arisen as 
a result of a discussion of the then existing position 
of Austria- Hungary among the Powers, one of those 
dangerous topics which even the most diplomatic of 
men will touch upon in their deeper cups. I have 
said elsewhere that, in my experience, there is a 
generous amount of human nature in princesses ; 
princes are not found to form any exception, and 
if the Archduke was on this occasion accused by 
German papers of having paid too heavy a tribute 
to Bacchus, it was not so much that the charge 
was true, as that the scene was particularly 
outrageous, suggesting the drinking hall rather 
than the banquet hall. It may be remembered 
that Prince William of Prussia had not long before 
been guilty of a similar lapse from diplomatic 
decorum, which had been severely commented 
upon by Austrian, English and French papers. 
Inspiration was certainly not lacking to the scribes 
of the Wilhelmstrasze and Charlottenburg. 

As I have before stated, the people, from mere 
hearsay, founded on no reliable facts, imbibe some 
strange notions of the foibles of their princes and 
their leading men. It was commonly thought 
in Vienna that the Archduke Rudolph was not 
only a confirmed drinker but that he was also a 
victim of the drug vice. As to these charges, I 



A CREDITABLE ARCHDUKE 165 

am in the fortunate position of being able, from 
my own opportunities for observation, to oppose 
a complete denial. As an athlete and gymnast, 
there were few amateurs alive who were superior 
to him, and in the opinion of the late Sir Charles 
Dilke, himself an eminent fencing expert, the 
Archduke was one of the first foilsmen in Europe. 
As a big-game shot he also excelled, and in regard 
to attentiveness to his public duties no prince or 
sovereign in Europe was more punctilious. He 
was, moreover, a deep student of economic ques- 
tions, and those connected with Labour were 
especially attractive to him ; his bent in the 
higher literatures was towards history and meta- 
physical speculation, while all men of note in 
Europe who had met him were unanimous in 
praising the soundness of his judgment, both 
in political and in literary matters. 

As I have also said, he had, like all the Habs- 
burgs, learned a trade, and his choice had been that 
of practical printer . Probably the greatest passion 
among his studies was the somewhat unusual 
science of ornithology, and his advice on details 
connected with this branch of knowledge had been 
asked on more than one occasion by directors of 
museums, both at home and abroad. Add to 
this the fact that he contributed essays to several 
publications on subjects in which he was interested - 1 

1 One of the last letters he wrote in life was a note to Weilen, 
the journalist, promising to give him an essay as well as to finish 
his Story of Godollo. This was on the day before his death. — 
Diarist. 



166 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

In my view, he was among the best horsemen I 
have met, as his Imperial mother was certainly 
the first horsewoman in the world. All these 
details I put before the reader in order to indicate 
that a man of such a type could not have been 
the hardened devotee of the bottle that rumour 
so often accused him of being . With his youth, his 
position, his temptations all considered, it would 
have been strange, indeed, had he lived the life 
of an ascetic — a life from which he was as far 
removed as he was incapable of its extreme. 

I enjoyed, many a time, the privilege of con- 
versation with my master on subjects which, I 
presume, interest most men of extended and 
intelligent reading. Psychology, in particular, 
was a science in which he was interested more 
than others, and the subjects of suicide, drink, 
dreams and education were frequently discussed 
in his hours of leisure. As I have just touched 
upon the charge that he was a confirmed devotee 
of the bottle, I will here give a short digest of 
an article that he once wrote for Weilen on 
the subject of alcoholic indulgence, which, in my 
opinion, states the case against the abuse of 
alcohol with considerable ability ; and which, at 
all events, attracted attention at the time, since 
some of his remarks forestall the so-called 
electron theory which later came into currency : 

" As it has been observed, man may well be 
described as machine, plus a mind. Physically 
he may be said to be an electrical organism con- 



MAN— THE MACHINE 167 

structed in every essential particular of electrons, 
the activity of which gives him his energy and 
constitutes his forcefulness in the struggle for life. 
In other words, the greater his personal or physical 
4 dynamo,' and the sounder his electrical com- 
position, the greater his supply of energy, and the 
better is he equipped in order to fight the battle 
of life and triumph over those who do not possess 
as strong an electrical supply as his. This vibra- 
tory force it is, consequently, that makes him a 
forceful and energetic character, if the supply is 
large and properly controlled, or a weakling, 
should the supply be small or intermittent and 
not wisely controlled according to what physical 
scientists call the principle of conservation of 
energy. This principle is a known law of Nature, 
and in man it is expressed by the will-power, or 
the governing check, bestowed by Nature, which 
exercises its function by virtue of the reasoning 
force, the main quality of which is a sense of 
economy. Your value in the scheme of the world 
and your likelihood of attaining success, there- 
fore, depend on your supply of energy and on your 
sense of economising it, directing it properly and 
allowing as little as possible of it to go to waste. 
* * * * * 

" In his normal physical working condition, 
man may be described as a kind of natural 
machine the workableness of which depends on 
the wholesomeness of food and drink taken in 
proportion to the need for sustained effort or 
application . What food he eats goes to strengthen 



168 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the tissue-supply and enrich the blood. The 
firmer the tissues and the richer the blood, the 
greater the physical and mental capacity for the 
production of effort and sustained concentration 
of thought. Before the invention of alcoholic 
liquors, man, when he found himself in that par- 
ticular condition of body and mind which we 
term ' run down ' — like a clock, for instance — 
recuperated by resting from his labours until he 
was wound up anew and ready to continue the 
struggle. He rested till waste tissue was removed 
from his frame and a new supply formed, and if 
he was a man who worked with his brain, till the 
brain cells were recreated and a fresh supply of 
new-made blood was sent travelling through the 
thousands of little veins that irrigated (so to 
speak) and refertilised the area of the brain or 
mental apparatus — the cerebrum, the anatomists 
call it. 

w 7s" 7T W TP 

" With the invention of alcohol, there came, 
however, a new condition of affairs. Men found 
that when the body and the mind were run down 
or fatigued, it was possible artificially to recreate 
their energies, and that, too, almost at once, by 
drinking spirituous liquors. A new impulse was 
created by the draught of alcohol — which impulse 
lasted for a certain time, during which the energies 
seemed to be accelerated, and even thought 
seemed to be promoted. The new-found energies 
did not endure long, however. When they were 
expended, an unusual lassitude was experienced, 



THE ABUSE OF ALCOHOL 169 

both in the body and the mind, and in order to 
stimulate them anew, recourse was again made to 
the bottle. Each period of exhilaration was 
succeeded by a period of lassitude proportionate 
to the artificial recreation of energy, and finally 
intoxication (i.e. poisoning) of both the physical 
and mental apparatus forbade further call on the 
supply of electrical energy. In other words, our 
drinking man found himself in the position of 
having, metaphorically speaking, overdrawn his 
physical and mental account to a point at which 
the bank refused to lend any more. This is 
the simple result of wantonly abusing alcohol, for 
its proper use is sanctioned, in special cases, by 
the highest medical experts. Not only has the 
drunkard overdrawn on the electrical supply of 
his physical make-up, but he has also overdrawn 
on his mental ' balance,' and in the end finds 
himself a physical and mental bankrupt. 

w w 7T w *7T 

" The old view that the brain contained the 
total supply of will-power has more recently been 
superseded by the view that this will-power — a 
species of thought-directed energy, as we have 
seen — is diffused over the whole system, from 
which it radiates in proportion to its elemental 
force. The consequence, therefore, of over- 
indulgence in alcohol must be as bad for the 
physical frame, in its effects, as it is for the 
cerebral or brain equipment, physicists, indeed, 
making no specific distinction when talking of the 
somatic or bodily frame as a whole, apart from the 



170 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

soul so-called. There is no doubt, however, that 
its first and most serious attack is upon the most 
refined portions of the human organism — a man's 
brain gives way to the effects of alcohol long before 
his limbs, other things being normal. His memory 
is the first to show the effects, this being due to the 
fact that the power of co-ordinating, or associating 
ideas in a logical order, is destroyed by the succes- 
sive assaults of the spirituous poison on the most 
refined proportion of the sensorium in which are 
stored the impressions received through the eye. 
Notice the drunkard's eye : it is the most tell- 
tale of all his organs ; test his memory, and you 
will see to what extent it is in the condition of 
being what is commonly called " fuddled." With- 
out memory and with a defective or atrophied 
power for receiving impressions, his two most 
important functions are for most purposes useless, 
namely, his reason and — particularly in the case 
of ambitious men — his imagination, or power of 
origination. 

***** 
" Whatever mythical stories may be told of 
the ' inspirations ' great geniuses may have 
derived from the use of alcohol, it is certain that 
no great genius, whether of ancient or modern 
times, was an abuser of alcohol, and equally 
certain that no drunkard — in the sense of a 
habitual abuser of alcohol — has ever produced 
imperishable or even long-lasting work. Goethe, 
Balzac, Voltaire, Byron, Shakespeare, were users, 
in a degree, of alcohol, but by no manner of means 



VALUE OF SELF-CRITICISM 171 

were they addicted to its undue use. Napoleon 
and Caesar were moderate users of vinous drinks, 
and the great scientists and thinkers have 
also used them in moderation. The bestowal 
by Nature of those great faculties which go to 
make up what we call genius, obviously, if they 
are meant to exert real dynamic energies, must 
also include a strong power of reasoning and self- 
criticism, which latter, in this case, amounts to 
the principle of conservation of energy. The 
most striking faculty of genius, moreover, or 
indeed of great ability, is that of working by the 
simplest and directest methods, or those in which 
the greatest results are produced by the least 
waste of positive energy. 

" The first best remedy against the abuse of 
alcohol is, therefore, the cultivation of the reason- 
ing power and the exercise of that faculty of 
self-criticism which teaches one the folly of 
expending natural gifts, or forces, in reckless 
and undirected fashion so as to bring about the 
inevitable bankruptcy of body and mind by 
over-drawing on the natural supply." 

Our sojourn at San Remo was not a lengthy 
one, as I well remember by the fact that, during 
our stay there, only two couriers arrived bearing 
mails from Vienna, among the many letters for 
our party being one from my old schoolfellow 
Koinoff, containing a request for a more consider- 
able loan than I had yet made him, the cards 
and the race-horses having once more declared 



172 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

in his disfavour. The letter contained other 
matter which I shall deal with in its proper place, 
and which proved more interesting in the sequel 
than I could possibly have foreseen at the time 
of its receipt. Another letter, which was ad- 
dressed to the Archduke, came under my obser- 
vation before that of my patron, since it was 
part of my duty to open, and, if very lengthy, to 
precis, all communications which did not bear 
the Archducal token of privacy, a token that 
made them sacrosanct to all but himself. Like 
other persons of note who employ many secre- 
taries, His Highness had an especial cachet of 
paper which was supplied, under instructions to 
his chamberlain, to particular friends whom he 
permitted to correspond with himself, and all 
letters of this cachet passed immediately to his 
own notice. 

The especial communication which so vividly 
recalls itself to my mind was one of several 
which had come directly under my atten- 
tion since I had served my master as personal 
secretary ; and if I mention it now, it is by no 
means to offend any person's susceptibilities, but 
merely to show how interesting a prince's corre- 
spondence can be and how potent an appeal his 
royal condition can make to the patriotic instincts 
of the humblest of his subjects, actual or potential. 
Those who are intimately acquainted with the 
life of one of the greatest of Britons, Lord Byron, 
will remember well how the poet was once the 
recipient of a letter from a young and untried 



AN AMBITIOUS NYMPH 173 

maiden who solicited from his lordship the honour 
of conferring upon her the most intimate kind of 
personal patronage which man can at any time 
confer upon woman. The fair aspirant, it will 
be remembered, went fully into details ; explain- 
ing how she had reached a certain age and as yet 
was entitled to wear the white robe, the fillets 
and the lily-like wand which were peculiar to the 
handmaidens of the Temple of Vesta ; how she 
had up till then seen many a variety of male, but 
how she could conceive of the poet-peer alone as 
the sole possible patron who came up to the 
specifications of her heart's ideal ; how, Dudu- 
like, she used to dream of apples and other fruits 
of paradise — and so on. 

Byron, we are told, was more interested in this 
letter than any he had ever received from the 
large number of inamorate who, at one time or 
other in his life, had become dear to him, and, 
accordingly, proved kind to his fair correspondent. 
The particular letter which I recall was written by 
a maiden of the upper class, who (she said) was 
about to be forced into a marriage for which she 
had no inclination, and was in other respects 
conceived in terms similar to those which made 
up the epistle indited to the English poet. The 
Archduke, in those days at least, was in no 
humour, however, to indulge his droit de jambe, 
as the French call it. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Return to Laxenburg Castle— Kaiser Franz's Unexpected Visit to 
his Son — The Rudolph- Vetsera Liaison — Rudolph's Loyalty 
to his Sire — Promise to give up Marie Vetsera — Rudolph and 
his Mother — Alleged Appeal by the Archduke for Divorce — 
Prussia's Conquest-Manias — My Turf Successes — Koinoff 
visits me again — His Gaming Transactions — Count Potocki's 
Visit — Koinoff's Story of a Mysterious Letter — Bismarck 
will do no Murder — Ich bin kein sicarius — Who is implicated 
in Berlin's Murderous Intrigues — Question of the Vatican — 
The Secular Arm — A New Man and New Measures in Berlin 
— The most Pathetic Kind of Mediocrity 

On our return from Rome, whither from San 
Remo the Archduke had proceeded incognito, 
accompanied by Count Potocki and myself, we 
went into residence at Laxenburg. On the morn- 
ing following our arrival at the Castle, shortly 
after the Archduke had ordered his carriage, with 
the intention of paying his respects to Kaiser 
Franz at the Hofburg, the very unexpected 
announcement was made of the arrival of the 
Emperor and his Consort, somewhat to the irrita- 
tion, I observed, of His Highness, with whom I 
was then engaged in dealing with a large accumula- 
tion of correspondence. The Archducal entourage 
had been, from the very beginning of the liaison 
with Marie Vetsera, under no illusions whatever 
as to what its result must be — namely, inter- 
vention on the part of the Emperor, who, in this 
matter, was moved rather by the temptations it 

174 



AN ARCH-TEUTONOPHILE 175 

offered to the political enemies of his throne 
rather than by any moral considerations involved 
in the illicit connection, or, I must say it, even 
by any regard for the feelings of such as might 
be hurt by its continuance. At this stage, I 
have no hesitation in expressing my conviction 
that Kaiser Franz had already divined the 
sinister nature of the intrigues which were then 
brewing in Berlin in the camarilla of militarists 
who had become obsessed by Mommsen's ex- 
travagant historical implications, which went the 
length of prophesying that the time was close at 
hand when the thrice-victorious Prussia of 1864, 
1866 and 1870 was at last to enter into that 
inheritance of ancient Roman dominion upon 
which neither Charlemagne nor the Habsburgs 
had been successful in permanently imposing 
their dynastic headship. 

And if you think it extravagant that intellectual 
Berlin could seriously accept such prophecies, just 
consider the case of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, 
of our own day, whose teaching — namely, that 
Jesus Christ was, through the Amorites, of 
aboriginal Teutonic descent — receives the applause 
of academic Germany from the Emperor William 
himself down to the meanest Privat-Dozent, or 
private tutor, in the Fatherland . And Chamberlain 
bases his conclusion to some extent on the possible 
correctness of the very vague hypothesis that the 
Amorites were really " Men of the North," but 
mainly on his own identification of Christ's 
" method of thought " with that of a modern 



176 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

German professor ! So that in one generation 
the insensibility of Mommsen to the absurdity of 
false analogies has graduated into the lunacies 
of the Arch-Teutonophile, and each teacher in his 
turn provides, in a degree, the measure of modern 
Germany's intellectual worth. 

In the Archduke's immediate entourage we 
had often discussed the probability of the 
Emperor's intervention, and since an unusual 
series of communications had passed directly 
between Kaiser Franz and his Heir-Apparent 
during our absence in San Remo and Rome, 
neither Potocki nor myself was under any illusion 
that the bolt was about to fall. We were not 
long in suspense, however, for on the evening of 
his Imperial parents' visit to Laxenburg, the 
Archduke informed us that it was his intention 
to pay a lengthy scientific visit to South America 
— in the company of his Consort. He was, I 
remember, in gay good humour on that occasion ; 
intended, he said, to take us all with him as well 
as a host of scientific experts in imitation, as 
he told us, of Napoleon when that commander 
invaded Egypt, and that in all probability we 
might prepare for the adventure about the end 
of December of that year — which, I may say, was 
about one month before my master passed away 
at Meyerling. The Emperor Francis had not 
miscalculated on the loyalty of his Heir, whose 
devotion to his sire was one of the most beautiful 
traits I have witnessed in any man. That the 
Empress Elizabeth counted for much in the 



THE BARBARIC NEAR-EAST 177 

Archduke's decision to break with Mademoiselle, 
I refuse to believe, for although he was devoted 
to his Imperial mother, his regard for the Empress 
was slightly coloured with that fatherly indulgence 
which Kaiser Franz displayed towards his Consort. 
Such indulgence was entirely German, or, if 
you will, somewhat Sultanic, and woman as an 
intellectual entity counted for very, very little 
in the eyes of the Habsburg Princes. I have said 
elsewhere that as the traveller — the intelligent 
traveller — goes east of Berlin, he becomes con- 
scious of something barbaric in the atmosphere 
of man and town. You sense this atmosphere, 
for all its ostentatious and somewhat vulgar 
modernity, in Berlin, though you are hardly 
conscious of it in Magdeburg or Cologne ; and as 
you go south towards the Danube, you realise 
that you are among the racial descendants of those 
philosophers who were wont to discuss whether, 
or not, woman possessed a soul. In these regions, 
and as you travel farther south, she is a toy, and 
has only an ornamental or domestic place in the 
scheme of important things. Peter the Great, 
you may remember, used, when he was sober 
enough to hold a Drawing Room, to make the 
fairest debutantes at the foot of his throne turn 
round, filly-wise, and show their ankles. And 
likewise, I often noted, it was much as cattle 
experts that the august hemicycle of Imperial 
Princes was wont to consider the maids of more 
human clay as they peacocked past the chiefs of 
Habsburg in the Palaces of Vienna. 

M 



178 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Notwithstanding the loyalty of the heads of 
the Vetsera family, which was entirely in favour 
of the separation of its daughter and the Arch- 
duke, a time of trouble and unhappiness set in for 
my master, who was too accomplished a man of 
the world not to realise " furens quid femina 
possit" as the Roman puts it — how far a woman 
can go in her anger. There was, moreover, a 
pride of kingly caste in him — peculiar to princes 
of royal and imperial houses, indeed — which must 
have forbidden him an alliance with a family of 
less than royal blood, if, as it was said, he had 
really, during our visit to Rome, sought the inter- 
vention of Leo XIII. and Cardinal Rampolla in 
order to procure a divorce from his Consort on 
the ground of cousinship. Whether or not this 
appeal had really been made by the Archduke, I 
am wholly unable to say ; nor have I ever heard 
that any one of his intimates had been made a 
confidant in respect of this widely rumoured 
report. To my mind, his pride of caste gave the 
lie to the possibility of such an appeal having been 
made, and in any case, my master was too well 
versed in the Canonical custom of the Catholic 
Church not to know that he was totally without 
grounds for a divorce. 

As for Mademoiselle Vetsera, if the Archduke 
could say that princes never possessed the satisfac- 
tion of confidence as to the regard entertained for 
them by their dearest mistresses, it shall certainly 
not be left for myself to say that Marie Vetsera 
was moved more by vanity and ambition than by 



WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN 179 

love in her attachment to her Imperial protector. 
Positive I am, however, that the divorce of these 
two illicit lovers was not accomplished at once ; 
that the rupture seemed to give no less pain to 
the Archduke than it gave to his mistress ; that 
they continued to meet at various trysting -places 
both in and out of Vienna ; and that the Emperor 
found himself obliged, more than once, to intervene 
and appeal anew to the loyalty of his Heir. 
Urgency, indeed, entered so largely into the 
calculations of Kaiser Franz that the projected 
expedition to South America, which had been 
planned for the opening of 1889, was actually 
preferred to a date in the summer of 1888, when, 
for all the scientific purposes of the adventure, 
little could have resulted. Would that the expedi- 
tion had, in any case, taken place ! The story 
of Europe within the past generation might have 
had to be told in far different terms ; and here I 
am reminded of the famous mot of the Emperor 
Napoleon — namely, that Destiny often moves on 
the most trivial of contingencies. 

During the year 1888, I may say, Fortune had 
very much favoured myself in regard to any Turf 
speculations into which I had entered, and I was 
one of the lucky number which was happy enough 
to start with the famous run of luck which gave 
the Duke of Portland two successive Derby 
winners in Ayrshire and Donovan. My master's 
luck had, on the contrary, been continuously bad 
since the autumn of 1887, and this notwithstand- 
ing the fact that a fund of excellent information, 



180 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

both from England and France, had won for many 
of his friends, men as well as women, respect- 
able fortunes. But as I have related, he was a 
man whose obstinacy went into every phase of 
his activities. Among others who had not been 
favoured by the fickle goddess was the ex- 
Feldkirchian Koinoff, who was not long in asking 
for an appointment with myself, when he knew of 
the Archduke's return. As before, we met at my 
flat near the Hofgarten, and my old schoolfellow 
was full of information which had been conveyed, 
during our several periods of absence, either to 
Bombelles or Hoyos. I was glad, however, to 
hear what he had to say at first hand. 

" Your letter," he said, referring to my reply 
to his communication at San Remo, " was 
doubly welcome. I spent a fortnight of my 
furlough in Berlin. That Scotchman Duglas got 
on my track, and, would you believe it, won his 
last year's losings back, with ten per cent, interest. 
Nor had I an opportunity of getting my revanche, 
as he was suddenly called to Friederichsruhe to 
see the chief. The Chancellor has snatched a few 
days there despite these critical days." 

" But why doubly welcome, as you say of my 
letter ? " I asked. 

" Well, on my return to Vienna I was badly 
cleaned out at the Baroness's. Not a maravedi's 
worth of money left," he answered. 

" And who did the cleaning out ? They appear 
to have made a dead-set against you all round," 
I observed. 



A VISIT FROM POTOCKI 181 

" Waldersee it was who broke my bank — young 
Waldersee, who succeeded Duglas, you remember ; 
one of the cleverest hands in Berlin. And the 
result is," he added, somewhat abjectly, " the 
secretary at the Nunciature owns me bodily, if 
my soul is still my own." 

" Why not explain the case to Hoyos or 
Bombelles," I suggested ; " and, above all, why 
remain at the Nunciature ? Que diable allez-vous 
faire dans cette galere ? Neither the Nunciature 
nor Berlin has any more secrets from us. Now 
you know." 

Koinoff rose with affected ease from his chair. 

" What do you mean by secrets ? " he asked, 
with a curious fixity. " Secrets about whom — 
about what ? " 

"All the judges are not in Berlin," was my 
reply. " There are also judges in Vienna. Do 
you think we are under any illusion as to 
the character of the men who surround Prince 
William in Berlin ; or under any misconceptions 
as to himself ? Are you under a*iy illusions as to 
them yourself ? " 

At this moment Bratfisch announced Count 
Potocki. In expectation of Koinoff's visit, I 
had asked him to call. There was no need of 
introductions, and Potocki knew as well as I did 
that the Feldkirchian was in the pay of Hoyos 
— in those days of Bismarckian espionage and 
intrigue an excusable trade on the Continent. 

" You ask me if I am under any illusions as 
to the men around Prince William. Do you 



182 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

include the Bismarcks among them ? " Koinoff 
proceeded. 

" I know what you are going to suggest," 
I replied ; " but there is hardly any necessity. 
Everybody who knows anything is well aware 
that the Bismarck regime is doomed — as doomed 
as the Emperor Frederick. 1 Watch the French 
and our own stock markets; they tell the tale, 
I think." 

"And," interjected Potocki, "there is little 
doubt that the new Crown Prince has shown his 
hand so plainly that Bismarck is under no illusions 
as to William's intention to reign alone when his 
turn comes." 

" Still they were on sufficiently good terms up 
to a year ago. Why these sudden hates, I 
wonder ? " was my remark. 

" The truth is," replied Potocki, " William is 
already in the saddle, and he knows it ; so does 
the Chancellor. They have fallen out on the 
Colonial question, which Bismarck has sworn to 
oppose with all his might. He wants no colonies, 
but Wilhelm does ; the Army is sufficient for 
Bismarck, but William wants a navy to play with. 
The Chancellor thinks that Prussia ought to be 
satisfied with carrying out the policies of Frederick 
the Great and annex Europe on the instalment 
plan ; but William — William is less modest ; 
he wants " 

" — the Earth," as an American would say ; 

1 The Emperor Frederick had indeed passed less than six weeks 
after this conversation. — Diarist. 



INSIDE INFORMATION 183 

Koinoff interrupted. " You are right, Count ! 
And yet," added the Feldkirchian thoughtfully, 
" you are only partly right. Bismarck quarrelled 
with William on an entirely different score. Shall 
I tell you ? " 

"Speak by all means," we answered in a 
single voice. 

"Well, gentlemen," replied the ex-scholastic, 
" I am afraid of walls — can they hear ? " 

" Aures habent, sed non audient, as the Psalmist 
says," I answered rather feebly ; " go on with 
your mystery, Koinoff." 

" Wlien I was in Berlin doing precis work for 
Dr Petri," the Feldkirchian resumed, " I was, 
as you will remember, housed — for office-room, 
at least — with the Doctor's department — that is 
to say, an annexe of the Chancellor's. As the 
only one who knew Italian perfectly, and could 
translate without hesitation, into Italian, letters 
dictated to me, in German, by Petri, I came into 
more frequent intimacy with the Doctor than the 
others, most of whom were Lutherans. The bulk 
of the correspondence which passed between 
Berlin and the Vatican dealt, as you may suppose, 
with the settlement following on the close of the 
Kulturkampf— work with which Petri, as an 
ex-priest, was highly competent to deal as to 
canonical, theological or disciplinary details. As 
it frequently happened that correspondence was 
heavy, my particular work obliged me on occasion 
to keep late hours in my office, which adjoined 
that of Dr Petri. Here one evening, as he was 



184 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

hurriedly departing, the Doctor handed me a 
sheaf of notes written by himself which I was to 
amplify and translate into Italian — notes on 
matters of mere technical interest which contained 
no mystery. Lurking among the leaves, however, 
lay a letter which was certainly not intended for 
anyone's perusal but that of my immediate chief. 
It was in Italian and written in a peculiarly small 
hand, unsigned, undated and without any evi- 
dence of the place of its origin. The beauty of 
the handwriting at first attracted my attention, 
then the contents, which were full of mystery. 
The letter, as I could read between the lines, 
referred to a previous communication in which 
nothing was said, but much conveyed. 

' ' It concerned the existence of a man of the first 
importance who, the context allowed an intelligent 
person to assume, constituted an obstruction in the 
path of those whom the writer represented, as well 
as a thorn in the path of other important persons 
who, of course, remained unnamed. There was 
sufficient in the contents of this mysterious note 
to justify me in thinking that I was in presence 
of a matter of moment. It spoke of certain 
friends who were prepared to act; it mentioned 
the Castle of Laxenburg ; there was question of 
the necessary female influence ; it deplored the 
lack of energy or courage on the part of an agent 
of great importance. The letter was of sufficient 
importance, I realised, that to be known to know 
of its contents would have been, I calculated, 
adverse to my health — to say the least. I 



BISMARCK AND ANOTHER 185 

decided to replace it in the Doctor's office, and 
moved to the adjoining room — in darkness, since 
its occupant had gone. As I entered with that 
intention, a high-pitched voice struck upon my 
ear, angry in tone, or at least querulous. It came 
from an open window which ran at right angles 
to the Doctor's office. Its blinds were drawn, 
but the windows of both pieces were open. The 
high-pitched voice was that of Bismarck : 

" ' No,' the Chancellor was saying ; ' I will 
slay in fair fight when the lists are open and all 
may be called fair. But I will do no killing by 
stealth, nor will I be the agent of those who murder 
in the dark. Ich bin kein swarms.' x The words 
came firmly and loudly. 

" The second voice was not heard for some 
time, and when it spoke, I failed to distinguish 
the words, but was only conscious of low guttural 
tones suggesting a feeling of contempt. The 
shadow of the tall Chancellor was then thrown 
on the blind, as if rising from a chair, and I 
deposited the mysterious letter on the floor 
under the Doctor's secretaire. Returning swiftly 
to my office, I picked up the completed budget 
ready for my chief's perusal, transferred it to an 
open dispatch-case of which he alone held the 
key, pressed the clasp-lock and was soon outside 
the building." 

" Of course," said Potocki, " you waited to see 
who the Chancellor's visitor was ? " 

1 The Latin word sica means dagger. A professional murderer 
was known to the Romans as a sicarius. — Editor. 



186 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" No, Count ; I did not wait," Koinoff replied 
simply. " Besides," he added, as of an after- 
thought, " I knew who was accustomed to visit 
him about that hour." 

" But, Koinoff," said I, somewhat puzzled, 
" to what does all this lead ? Where is the 
implication ? " 

And the Feldkirchian replied : " When I came 
to the Nunciature, I discovered the wonderful 
handwriting again — not once but several times. 
It came from Rome." 

" Oh, surely not, Mr Koinoff. Think again," 
exclaimed Potocki rather doubtfully. " You do 
not, I presume, insinuate that the Vatican would 
descend to murder ? " 

" Count," replied Koinoff, with a touch of 
sententiousness, " there are wheels within wheels. 
Do you know Galimberti? Aspice formicam — 
consider that ant of industry ! Do you think 
Galimberti is overburdened with scruples ? ' ; 

"That," retorted Potocki, also with some sen- 
tentiousness, "is a question with an assumption." 

"Meaning to say ?" asked my old school- 
fellow, smiling. 

" I mean to say," the Count answered, "that 
you evidently assume me to think that because 
a man is a Nuncio he is necessarily above suspicion. 
Believe me, I do not." 

" Well," said the Feldkirchian, with decision, 
" you have read history. So have I. And I fear 
I can only reply again that there are wheels 
within wheels. Besides, Count Potocki," he 




PRINCE BISMARCK IN RETIREMENT, 1890. 
After the Painting by Lenbach. 



THE SECULAR ARM 187 

added, after a pause, " I have been at the 
Nunciature now for several months — nearly a 
year. I have perhaps observed where I was not 
supposed to have observed. That you will over- 
look, however, for I owe my first allegiance to 
Austria." 

" Quite right, Mr Koinoff," Potocki assented 
kindly. "Your heart is in the right place." 

I was pleased with my old schoolfellow, 
although still a bit mystified. "Koinoff," I 
asked, "what is the conclusion you arrive at? 
Is Bismarck, or the Bismarcks, if you prefer it, 
in the game or out of it ? " 

" Speaking for myself," he replied, " I should 
say that, positively, Bismarck is out of it, since his 
hand refuses to work in the matter. Negatively, 
however, he may be in it— that is to say, he may 
approve results which suit his particular strategy. 
As for Herbert Bismarck — he may be a man- 
hater, but he is no murderer." 

" And as you must have divined much from 
the correspondence of the mind of the Roman 
4 Blacks '—where do you think they stand ? " 
I asked. 

"My dear Youngster," he replied, falling back 
on an old Feldkirchian term by which the juniors 
were known to the senior pupils, "there is, in 
dark matters, always a point at which the Church 
retires in favour of — the secular arm." 

"And," asked Potocki, "in this particular 
case, where do you find the secular arm ? " 

" In Berlin, Count; in Berlin," Koinoff replied. 



188 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" In another month, or perhaps even less, there 
will be a new occupant of the throne ; there will 
be new men and new measures. I have just 
returned from Berlin, and I tell you that there are 
to-day thousands of mean little spirits listening 
for the crash that will bring to earth the only 
genuine Colossus that Prussia has produced in 
her short and shabby history— the Imperial 
Chancellor, Bismarck. Bismarck's reign is draw- 
ing to a close, and he will pass as others have 
passed. With his passing will succeed the feeblest 
and most impermanent of all forms of govern- 
ment — that which rules by virtue of the sword. 
And mediocrity will sit and reign where real 
greatness stood and served — the most pathetic of 
all mediocrities — namely, that which expects a 
minimum of capability to achieve a maximum 
of performance." 



CHAPTER XIV 

Berlin in July 1888— A City of Martial Law — Return of Wolfram 
to Vienna — What Kinsky's Cousin had to relate — His Friend 
the Bocher — Berlin's Money-lenders and their Satellites — 
Evidence of Inside Information— Forging the Archduke's 
Handwriting — A Forged Letter from Rudolph — On the Trail 
of the Enemy — Intentions of Militarists in Berlin — Ineptitude 
of Berlin's Agents — Sharps versus Flats — Clerics and Con- 
spirators — Prince Henry's New-found Importance — Bismarck 
and Imponderabilia — The Great Imponderable — Natural End 
of Pork-eaters — Politico-Spiritual Role of the Vatican — 
Austria and the Omens 

By July of 1888, Wilhelm II. was reigning in 
Berlin, and though I was not myself a spectator 
of the obsequies of the Emperor Frederick, I 
learned from members of the Archduke's suite 
that a change had already come upon the Prussian 
capital as marvellous as it was sudden. Berlin 
had always been, in my experience of it, the 
world's chief exemplar of the city which is military 
first, official next and civic last of all ; the very 
street-sweeper appeared to be conscious of possess- 
ing the sacred investment of an authority which 
distinguished him from the plain citizen ; the 
policeman looked and acted the part of a quasi- 
military being who dispensed summary permission 
to ordinary men to walk the highways ; even 
private members of the upper classes seemed 
grateful for the privilege of being allowed to tread 
the side walks unscrutinised and unsuspected 
189 



190 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of the sentinels of order ; while minor social 
fry, as they passed along with stiff business- 
like stride, gave foreigners the air of men who 
inwardly rejoiced in the consciousness of being 
" certified correct." And as for the representa- 
tives of the Caste, from the rigid, broad-beamed 
field officer to the chattering, gesticulative yet 
mightily self-centred subaltern — all these trod the 
favoured soil with the processional gait of gods 
who had condescended to a momentary incarna- 
tion on a very humble planet. I was not in 
Berlin in June when the second Emperor of the 
Germans passed to the elect, but my imagination 
is equal to conjuring up the quality of the 
apotheosis which military Berlin took on with 
the advent of its new Imperial lord of war. 

To some intimate and important degree, apart 
from high politics, we in Vienna were affected by 
the change. The youthful Wolfram, of whom I 
have spoken in a previous chapter, had taken 
counsel from his Swedish mistress, a few weeks 
before the death of Frederick, and had consented 
to abandon his loved city by the Spree and 
come to Vienna. With him came the blonde 
and buxom opera-singer Stromberg, and both of 
them brought tidings which substantiated in a 
close way all that Koinoff had told Count Potocki 
and myself at my flat, as I have also related in 
its proper place. The infatuated couple were 
seemingly more infatuated than before, and she 
and Wolfram had gone into splendid apartments 
in the Ringstrasze. It was here, during my 



MY FRIEND WOLFRAM 191 

master's absence from town, that I met the 
interesting twain. The description of a woman 
is not my forte, and, in any case, those who knew 
Paris in the early nineties — shortly after the 
marriage of Wolfram to a lady of his own tribe 
— will well remember the spectacular enough 
Swede who was known among the Parisian 
gommeux as the ci-devant femme du frere d'Alle- 
magne. Out of sheer devotion to her lover, and 
in order to further his quest for details, the Swede 
had consented to return to her only too willing 
Henry, shortly after I had made him acquainted, 
in March 1888, at the old Emperor William's 
death, with the urgency in which we stood of 
finding out the exact nature of the supposed 
intrigue against the Heir of the Habsburgs. 

" As you will recollect," Wolfram explained at 
our meeting alone, " your intelligence was not 
less startling than disquieting, and in view of the 
nature of the crime planned and its intended 
victim, I resolved to make all possible sacrifice 
in order that you should have every available item 
of information. On your return to Vienna, when 
I considered the whole matter alone, I frankly 
admit that my first conclusion as to the chances 
of being able to help you was one of despair, and 
though I was prepared to liquidate all I possess, 
if necessary, in order to get the required informa- 
tion, I realised that I was a very insignificant 
David indeed, when faced with the Goliath of a 
group of military conspirators of whom I had 
hardly even heard. At times, too, I was inclined 



192 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to think that your suspicions at Vienna were 
based upon idle dreams and vicious fantasies 
rather than upon anything you really knew, or 
even upon sane deductions. However, on reflec- 
tion, I resolved to see if money — which works 
with subtler magic in Berlin than in any other 
capital I know — could help me. Accordingly, I 
decided to rely on a Bocher friend of mine who 
was largely in my debt, hopelessly so, indeed, and 
the Bocher, being an unnational creature, as you 
well know " 

" Excuse me, my dear Wolfram," I inter- 
rupted, " but is this some new word you are 
springing on my philological innocency ? I am 
well acquainted with a multiplicity of argot terms 
— but what the devil is a Bocher ? " 

" My poor, poor simpleton," replied Wolfram, 
in a staring kind of pity, " but can you really 
pretend not to know what is meant by a Bocher 
— you, a more case-hardened vagabond than the 
classic fancy-man for whom Calypso couldn't 
console herself ? You surprise me ! " 

I could only shake my head in token of un- 
worthy ignorance. 

" Well," explained my young friend, " a 
Berlin Bocher is a flash Jew, and it is only Berlin 
that breeds them. Sometimes they are quite 
wealthy, but the majority of them are fashionable 
money-lenders' touts, and you know the type 
of gentry who operate in that particular line of 
commerce. At all events, my particular Bocher 
was on the ribbed sea sands, financially speaking, 



A BERLIN BOCHER 193 

and fast approaching the rocks. His name was 
Lazarus, and as I sympathised with the fellow, 
I lent him money — a considerable sum." 

" You resurrected him, in other words. Christ- 
like man ! " I commented. 

" Don't be blasphemous, my friend," Wolfram 
went on ; " this is a serious matter. I had kept 
counsel regarding the whole affair, not explaining 
even a word to Christiane. With Lazarus, whom 
I could always summon in respect of any cattle 
the stable required, I successfully sustained for 
some time the attitude of one who was simply 
exchanging the gossip of the day. Not for long, 
however ; for one morning, after we had discussed 
the matter at somewhat greater length than 
usual — I am no diplomatist, you know — Lazarus 
suddenly approached me with that easy famili- 
arity the Jew adopts so readily with people in our 
condition. 

" ' Count,' he said, ' you know Berlin pretty 
well. So do I. Well, then, I needn't tell you 
that you can buy anything you like in Berlin — 
including information.' 

" ' So-ho ! ' I exclaimed. ' But I am no 
journalist. I buy horses, Lazarus. I buy 
carriages and wines, as you know. Yet you 
talk of information — what the devil should I 
want with information ? ' 

" The Bocher grinned and actually put his two 
hands on my shoulders, looking me straight 
between the eyes. 

" ' Count,' he said, ' you've been a good friend 



194 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to me, and though I'm a white Jew, I'm also a 
countryman of yours. I'm a Pole. I come out 
of Cracow — a city which you well know. Besides, 
you're related to those Kinskys, and the Kinskys 
have always been good to our people.' 

" ' My good Lazarus,' I objected, ' all this may 
be as you say. But why should you suppose that 
I require any information ? Information about 
what? I am not a politician. I am not even 
in the diplomatic service. I am only a private 
person, as you know.' 

"'Well, now,' he replied, 'you don't need to 
be told that money talks. But, believe me, those 
who want money talk more. I mix every day of 
my life with men who want money and men who 
lend it. We hear more than the politicians and 
the diplomatists put together. We are on the 
inside track, and if you want an inside proof, I'll 
give you one.' 

" ' Indeed ! ' said I, very much interested. ' It's 
only out of mere curiosity, Lazarus, you know ; 
but give me an inside proof of something or 
anything — just for curiosity's sake.' 

" ' Then, Count,' replied the Bocher, ' you must 
know that it is the business of money-lenders to 
keep their eyes open — upon the expert forgers, 
for example. We do it to protect ourselves, and 
we know every expert forger in Berlin. We have 
a hold over most of them. The Government 
offices employ their services occasionally, and 
when they do, we are fairly certain to know it — 
being on the inside track. At the present moment 



THE CALLIGRAPHIC ART 195 

an expert forger is working for an important man 
who represents a more important man, who again 
represents a man much higher up. You don't 
know the name of the forger, but we do ; and we 
hold him for a iife-sentence any day we care to 
put the drop on him. Consequently we know what 
he is forging. Would you like to know, Count ? ' 

" ' I certainly don't mind being told, Lazarus,' 
I replied. 

"'At the present moment,' replied my Bocher, 
' he is forging the handwriting of the Archduke 
Rudolph.' 

44 ' The Archduke Rudolph ! ' I cried. ' But 
why the Archduke Rudolph ? Where does he 
come in, and why ? ' 

" ' Now you asked me, Count,' returned the 
Bocher rather querulously, ' to give you an in- 
side proof that we are on an inside track. Have 
I done so — yes or no ? ' 

" ' You certainly have done so, Lazarus, if 
what you say is correct,' I replied. 

" ' Correct ? ' the Jew exclaimed. ' Do you 
know the Archduke's handwriting ? ' 

"'I should know it if I saw it — certainly,' 
was my answer. 

" ' Then there you are, Count. Try your 
knowledge on that,' and the Bocher handed me 
a letter which I examined very carefully. 

44 4 That, Lazarus, is certainly the Archduke's 
handwriting,' I admitted, having carefully in- 
spected the document. 4 You have made no 
mistake this time.' 



196 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" ' No, Count, I have not,' was the reply ; 
' but you have. That is not the Archduke's 
handwriting. This letter is a forgery and it was 
done here for practice in Berlin on paper of his 
own cachet. Now would you say we are on an 
inside track or not ? ' " 

At this juncture Wolfram rose, went to a small 
writing-desk, extracting a document which he 
passed to myself. It required no great familiarity 
with it to realise that here, indeed, was the hand- 
writing of the Archduke, my master. Even I 
myself could not detect that it was a forgery. 
I was about to question my friend when he 
interrupted me. 

"Let me continue to the end of this story," he 
said. " The reason why I had laid the Jew under 
an obligation to myself, by lending him money, was 
due to something more than sympathy. I had 
made his acquaintance through his sister, a very 
amiable Jewess with a rich rendezvous in the 
official quarter, which was really nothing more 
nor less than an assignation-house. She was 
under certain obligations to myself, as her brother 
also was, and I felt satisfied that I could trust 
them both, all the more so, you will understand, 
that they were aware how far I was prepared to be 
liberal — always a valuable consideration in Berlin, 
where paymasters are known for their moderation. 

" I now realised that your suspicions at Vienna 
were not without grounds, and I decided to 
see what was the final object in view, for you 
must understand, my Bocher had assured me 



A SCHOOL OF INTRIGUE 197 

that among the sharp-witted and well-informed 
denizens of the world in which he moved it had 
been for long a matter of private gossip that 
Kaiser Franz, as well as his Heir, had been 
marked out for removal, in accordance with the 
new notions of bringing Austria -Hungary under 
Prussian domination. I also learned from the same 
source that a division of opinion was said to exist 
hereanent, one party urging the removal of the 
more important obstruction — namely, Rudolph; 
while the extremists advocated the extinction of 
both father and son, as being more Roman, and 
therefore more worthy of the ' Mommsenite ' school. 
"As you well know, Berlin, although seething 
with intrigue, is really the worst of all possible 
schools of the art of intrigue. Men like yourself 
and myself, who have nothing to do with political 
plotting or schemes which involve blood-letting, 
are excusably enough naive in the pictures we 
conjure up of deep-working conspiracies, and 
I suppose it must be the historical romancers 
and the amateur detectives who have con- 
trived to throw so blinding a glamour over the 
profound and sable mysteries with which their 
fancies compel them to wrestle. I have come 
to the conviction, however, that the cleverest 
schemers in this world are the men who don't 
scheme, and that the men of honour are the real 
sharps ; for if I am to judge of intrigue and con- 
spiracy by what goes by these terms in the Prussian 
capital, then I am forced to the conclusion that 
the Prussian schemer, high or low, is the veriest 



198 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

flat that walks the earth — or else that human kind 
is very confiding, indeed ; more particularly his 
victims. 

" Acting on the advice of Lazarus, whose 
forger friend was prepared to give up every secret 
he knew — at a price, of course — we soon learned, 
by putting pursuivants on his trail, that the 
immediate agent for whom the forger worked was 
a high-school teacher, the son of one Krause, at 
whose house lodged Dr Haake, an assistant in the 
private-service department of the Chancellor, at 
the head of which is Doctor Petri. Petri, we 
learned, had in his time been a cleric, and in any 
case was known to be well in the confidence of the 
Roman representatives, who are now pretty 
numerous in Berlin. You will recollect that the 
forged letter which you have just read dealt with 
matters respecting religious teaching in the day 
schools in Prussian Poland, a subject which has 
been causing the priests much anxiety. Clearly, 
then, the person for whom it was meant, though 
his condition or identity is not, comprehensibly 
enough, indicated, must have been a person who 
held an important position in Berlin — sufficiently 
important, in any case, to be able to use his 
influence in high places." 

" That ought to present no difficulty," I 
remarked. " The Archduke will explain the 
matter on his return." 

"If he can determine the date of the letter — 
very probably," returned Wolfram. " Well, 
then," he went on, " using the services of the 



PRINCE HENRY'S PROMOTION 199 

Bocher's aides, we discovered that Petri, an ex- 
cleric and probably an anti-cleric, was on frequent 
visiting terms with members of the various 
clerical representatives in Berlin — a strange 
enough situation. A certain cleric of high stand- 
ing both in Rome and Berlin, and not long ago, 
here in Vienna, had become a frequent special 
visitor to the establishment of Prince Henry, and 
the Hohenzollerns are not pro-clerical, if we ex- 
cept the old Empress Augusta. Not Prince Henry 
certainly. Now in view of the expected demise 
of the Emperor Frederick, at that time sorely 
stricken, Prince Henry had, at the instance of 
the Crown Prince, begun to play a more important 
role in political circles than formerly. This was 
very plausibly explained to us on the ground that 
since Prince William realised the imminence of 
his own accession, he found it essential to have 
near him a member of his family who could play 
the role of bon camarade with the spirits who up 
till then had looked upon himself as their leader, 
so allowing him gradually to efface himself, since 
what was permissible to Prince William, and even 
the Crown Prince, would, of course, be unthink- 
able in a Kaiser enthroned, exposed to the fierce 
criticism of watchful Europe. To some extent, 
then, Prince Henry has taken the place of Prince 
William." 

"And the Chancellor — what of him ? " I asked. 

"As to the Chancellor," replied Wolfram, " it 
is quite certain that he and the new Kaiser, 
although apparently on terms of good temper, 



200 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

outwardly, are, inwardly, sizing each other up 
for the final tussle — which cannot be far off." 

" But do you think him capable of going to the 
lengths that your own information would suggest 
— I mean, attempting to destroy Rudolph ? " 

Wolfram considered a little while in silence. 

" Have you," he finally asked, " ever heard 
of Bismarck's eminently sane doctrine of im- 
ponderabilia ? " 

" I must confess," I answered, " that I have 
not." 

" Well," replied Wolfram, " the imponderabilia 
of life are, as you know, the little things and big 
which one cannot weigh, upon which it is im- 
possible to calculate beforehand, the nasty little 
slaps of Fate which you cannot foresee, the un- 
forecastable conditions which upset the odds-on 
chance, the — the — well, my dear fellow, I fear I 
must travel to America for the word — the almighty 
c cussedness ' of contingencies that are coming 
home. As to Bismarck — like yourself, I am under 
the spell of that wizard — I should say that of all 
imponderabilia he is the Great Imponderable. 
Yet I think he is too brave a man to slay in the 
dark — and, again, I do not know what to think. 
These Prussians are a puzzling proposition ; they 
are not the supermen they think they are ; some- 
times they are not even men ; and yet they are 
not infra -men. Expliquera, morbleu, le Prussien 
qui pourra — forgive me mishandling — Alfred de 
Musset, is it ? Yet I think the sage who finally 
expounds and explains the Prussian to the New 



POLITICO-SPIRITUAL IDEAS 201 

Zealander of the Millennium will build his hypo- 
thesis, not implausibly, on the fact that a race 
which devotes its existence largely to the con- 
sumption of pork must end by becoming largely 
—pig." 

" Be serious, Wolfram," I reproved ; " be serious, 
and come down to cases. Do you think, as it is 
said, that the Vatican would like to see our 
Archduke dead ? " 

" There, my friend," replied Wolfram, " you 
enter again into the region of the imponderable — 
and the permanently imponderable, at that. To 
weigh the spiritual is hard enough ; but to weigh 
the politico-spiritual — there you have the enigma 
which drove Constantine to the Bosporus, which 
clove the policies of Charlemagne, which brought 
Henry IV. to the knees of Hildebrand, which pro- 
duced Luther and caused the Thirty Years War, 
and against which Napoleon himself could not 
prevail. If the death of an Archduke, or a 
hundred Archdukes, will serve the political ends 
of Rome, then Rome will retire into her spiritual 
fortress and weep that men should be so wicked ; 
but as a spiritual power, she will make it her 
concern not to oppose the passing of the Arch- 
duke, that being the privilege attaching to the 
dual condition of being politico-spiritual." 

We were both silent for a moment, and then 
Wolfram added : 

44 Between the decadence of our country, with 
its final passing into the vassalage of the Hohen- 
zollerns, and the survival of its integrity and 



202 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

prestige, there stand but one measure and one 
man : the measure is the nationalisation of 
interests, and the man is Rudolph of Habsburg 
— God bless him ! Does militaristic Germany wish 
to see such a revival under such a man ? What 
think you ? And you know what the education 
of our masses will mean to the Vatican. These 
are the omens, so far as I can see." 



CHAPTER XV 

Wolfram, Christiane and Prince Henry — The Prussian Prince's 
Threats — Lazarus suggests a " Reconciliation " — Kaiser 
Wilhelm's Various Poses — His Brother's Equally Simian 
Characteristics — Henry's Affectation of Sailor-like Simplicity 
— Christiane returns to her old Lover — What she seeks to 
discover — Plays on Henry's Vanity — Antipathy of the 
Imperial Brothers towards Rudolph — The Vatican's 
Enigmatical Role — Monsignore Galimberti's Aspirations — 
Christiane's Flight to Vienna — Our Precautions to protect 
Rudolph — His Horror of being " Policed " — Vienna Foreign 
Office's Ignorance — The Case of Marie Vetsera — Her Regard 
for Rudolph- — Koinoff avoids me — A Successful Double- 
Event — Rudolph's Debts and Creditors — Where Berlin 
came in 

My young friend Wolfram, in the course of further 
conversation, related to me, with not a little of 
the air of a martyr to his higher sense of duty, 
I thought, how he had forgone the society of his 
morganatic Swede for the better part of a month. 
Her ci-devant Imperial patron, Prince Henry of 
Prussia, had found himself unable, I have said, 
to bear the emptiness of life to which the defection 
of Christiane, in favour of the young Polish Count, 
had in a large measure condemned him. Finding, 
too, that his repeated appeals to the faithless 
songstress to return to him proved unavailing, he 
had recourse, like the true Prussian he was, to 
threats against the person of herself and that of 
her new lover. It was as the result of an especi- 
ally menacing communication of this kind from 
203 



204 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

the disconsolate Imperial sailorman that Christiane 
consented to meet him once more, but only with 
a view, as she wrote, under instructions, to making 
a personal appeal to what was, with considerable 
humour, described as the " better feelings " of 
the Hohenzollern. 

" My Bocher," Wolfram explained, " had a 
far deeper sense of intrigue than myself, as you 
may suppose, and he appeared so preternaturally 
anxious to probe this particular situation to its 
most intimate source that I suspected he was 
working as faithfully for a patron of his own 
tribe as he was in my own behalf. However, 
since good results for one side meant good results 
for the other, I felt that it would be judicious to 
allow him to pursue his own plans unquestioned. 
It was at the suggestion of Lazarus, then, that I 
found myself forced to part with Christiane, who, 
although the return of her Sailor Prince far from 
proved a pleasant prospect, was, womanlike, 
particularly gratified to think that she had been 
chosen to play an important part in a plot which 
involved some of the most celebrated people in 
Europe. The role assigned to her by the Bocher 
was conceived on what Christiane herself already 
knew of the character and habits of her ex- 
lover. The Prince was, indeed, even more typic- 
ally Prussian than his brother, the new Kaiser, 
in a certain bovine dullness and sluggishness of 
mind. Hardly less than his brother, however, 
was he the actor of a specific part. 

Everyone in Berlin, and, indeed, most Europeans 



A PROTEAN PRINCE 205 

who knew him were well aware that the specious 
eccentricities of William had been thought out, 
with more or less feeble art : at one hour he was 
Frederick ; at another, Napoleon ; in the morning 
he was Julius; at noon, Tiberius; at night, 
Aurelius ; and even the role of the world's only- 
sublime type, Christ, was not sacred from his 
histrionism. In other words, on the personality 
of Kaiser Wilhelm II. there was no cachet what- 
ever, which means to say that he was without 
character. When and where, we may ask in vain, 
was Napoleon ever anyone but Napoleon ; or 
Caesar anyone except Caesar ; or Octavian anyone 
but Octavian ; or Cromwell other than Cromwell ? 
These are the characters of granite that send a 
single impress of themselves moving down the 
cycles of storied time, ever statuesque, inefface- 
able and unconfounded, more permanent than 
even history itself. How, one may well wonder, 
will posterity think of Kaiser Wilhelm II., and 
in which role ? 

"Well," Wolfram continued, "Prince Henry 
appears to be affected with his own particular 
mania for playing a part. He is not less simian 
in disposition than his brother ; indeed, the taste 
for imitation seems to be a characteristic of this 
entire tribe, as it is also a specific Prussian trait. 
Somewhere or other, however, Henry has heard 
it said, or has read that your true sailorman is 
remarkable for the simplicity of his character, 
and this is the especial role which he affects 
always and everywhere, as Christiane was able 



206 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to convince us by many an incident recalled. 
Have you ever met a superannuated ingenue, or 
seen her play what she thinks is the part of artless 
and prattling simplicity ? The male counter- 
part of this curious being is our Prussian Sailor 
Prince, and if the various roles enacted by his 
brother are wretchedly enacted, that of Henry is 
the limit of infantility. Nevertheless, he shows 
himself a true Prussian in the inability even to 
suspect that which is the ridicule of all who know 
him. Christiane, who is a sufficiently good actress, 
found no difficulty in persuading him that it was 
regard for himself, rather than any fear of his 
threats, which had induced her to consent to see 
her old lover again. She could, moreover, point 
to the fact that she had broken off the liaison 
with myself, and, in token thereof, could show 
that she had taken back her old quarters in the 
Dorotheenstrasze — a precaution we had carefully 
provided for. 

"Like many women of the northern latitudes, 
too, Christiane is not only acutely intellectual, but 
is also possessed of a strong political sense, and 
was capable of sounding her Imperial patron by 
the Socratic method of inquiry — a gift which 
women, I know, rarely possess, but which when 
possessed by them becomes a highly effective 
instrument in the eliciting of required informa- 
tion. In the case of anyone less vain, a woman, 
were she never so clever, would have accomplished 
nothing ; but the weakness which exposed the old 
Emperor William to the wiles of astute women 



A SIMPLE SAILOR-PRINCE 207 

like Anna Viereck, the Jewish actress, or Angela 
Papenberg, was clearly hereditary in the Sailor 
Prince. That vanity of affected simplicity, acting 
perhaps in conjunction with his disposition to tell 
the truth under the malinspirations of Bacchus, 
was powerless against the inquisitorial method of 
Christiane, who in a short while was able to inform 
us of the exact intentions of that party which is 
now known as the militaristic clique in Berlin, and 
as to the nature of which the Archduke, from what 
I gather, is under no illusions. So far, then, we 
learned little which we had not already divined. 

" Evidently, there is not less antipathy in the 
breast of Prince Henry towards Rudolph than 
there is in the heart of his brother. From what 
could be gleaned by Christiane from her old lover, 
it appeared clear enough that there was a point at 
which his initiation into the positive plans of the 
Berlin military party stopped short ; and, indeed, 
my Bocher was probably not wrong in his hypo- 
thesis that in view of the nature of the crime which, 
presumably, is to be attempted with the object 
of removing either Rudolph or his father, or 
probably both, the threads of any such con- 
spiracy were as yet not distributed, and that even 
the secret of a decisive intention to act was as yet 
locked up in the breast of the one person whom 
we may suppose to have desired the stage cleared 
of both Kaiser Franz and his Heir. As a Swede 
of the popular classes, which in Sweden are 
strongly Lutheran, Christiane is also a Protestant, 
and consequently any evidence of an anti-Catholic 



208 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

disposition on her part would prove neither 
extraordinary nor suspicious. As it happened, 
however, although she has no religious bias what- 
ever, this especial basis of inquiry adopted by her 
with her patron — who, like most men of feeble 
intellect, is strongly anti-religious— proved of 
considerable value in putting us in the way of 
tangible information. 

" Prince Henry very openly admitted his know- 
ledge of the fact that the Vatican feared the 
advent of Rudolph to power on the possible 
abdication of the Emperor Francis, whose uncle 
Ferdinand, you know, had abdicated in his own 
favour in 1848. The Roman 'Blacks' looked 
upon this possibility with much misgiving and, it 
was clear from what the Prince allowed her to 
know, were willing to approve any plan or plot 
which should prevent such a contingency. It 
was not for nothing that the Nuncio Galimberti 
was transferred from Vienna to Berlin, as you well 
remember. Nor is it without purpose that this 
prelate has become so pleasing a personage to 
some of the most important men in the Prussian 
capital. He has, indeed, been encouraged, Prince 
Henry admits, to look forward to the support of 
Kaiser Wilhelm for the red hat, with the ultimate 
possibility of receiving Imperial suffrages, when, 
in the course of time, Leo XIII. shall have passed 
to the elect — a contingency which, you are well 
aware, is looked forward to as likely at any 
moment to become fact. So then, in so far as 
practical results were obtainable, we may assume 



VIENNA'S F.O. 209 

that, given the correctness of the hypothesis that 
the Vatican really counts for something in the 
whole affair, our quest was not altogether in vain. 
Lazarus has, in any case, carte blanche from myself 
to exercise what vigilance he thinks necessary, 
and in view of the excellent sources of information 
open to his sister, whose house is the rendezvous 
of well-known members of the military clique in 
Berlin, we may reasonably hope to be kept ap- 
prised of any new moves which are likely to 
indicate if anything in the way of definite action 
is contemplated, and when. As for our own 
departure from Berlin, I may say that Christiane 
preceded me here, practically a fugitive from an 
existence which had become intolerable, and it was 
really only when she had arrived in Vienna that 
I was made aware of the fact and decided also to 
move, leaving my household gods to the charge 
of the Bocher." 

At this time Kalnoky was at the Foreign 
Ministry in Vienna, and as I had worked in his 
department as a dispatch-carrier, or Imperial 
messenger, I acquainted him with what I knew. 
In view of my previous acquaintance with the 
working of this particular Ministry, I was not at 
all surprised to learn from the lips of Kalnoky 
himself that nothing whatever had been as yet 
divined of the intrigues which were then being 
threaded together with the momentous object 
of inflicting upon Austria a loss from the con- 
sequences of which it was doubtful if she 



210 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

could ever recover. London, as Kinsky had told 
me, already whispered of dread possibilities; 
the Foreign Affairs department in Brussels had 
been acquainted, through Solvyns, with the 
purport of these whisperings ; even Paris news- 
paper men had distributed hints on several 
occasions as to the dangers which surrounded the 
Archduke Rudolph. And yet Vienna's Foreign 
Office did not know, or affected not to know ! 
As a result of my visit to our Foreign Office, and 
after the intervention of Bombelles and Hoyos 
towards the same end, the then chief of police in 
Vienna, Szoegyeni, certainly redoubled vigilance, 
and for some time the officiousness of his agents 
became so apparent, not only in respect of the 
person of the Archduke, but also in the way of 
subjecting the Archducal intimates and household 
officers, including myself, to the attention and 
scrutiny of his pursuivants, that it seemed certain 
we might regard both our master and ourselves 
as reasonably safe, if somewhat uncomfortably 
so. The object of Szoegyeni in having the officers 
of the Archduke's household followed was, I 
afterwards learned, to discover to what extent 
any member or members of his Highness's 
might be in touch with the agents of Berlin. If 
this were so, then our chief police official failed 
disastrously, as the sequel was to prove. Let it 
not be for myself, however, to seek to place the 
blame for that tragic sequel in this quarter ; for, 
alas that I should have to write it ! even Viennese 
officialdom was in those days so intimately 



OUR FEARLESS PRINCE 211 

suborned to the evil will of Berlin that it was 
impossible to say which was the loyal man or 
woman and which the paid traitor. 

One especial circumstance, moreover, was 
destined fatally to militate against the sharpest 
and most comprehensive circumspection on the 
part of those who loved him, and that was the 
attitude of the Archduke Rudolph himself in the 
face of any possible danger. I doubt if in certain 
particulars there existed a much stranger being 
than my master. There were subjects on which 
I myself never dared to touch, even when he 
honoured me with the most intimate approach 
to his own mind, and I do not think others were 
more favoured than myself in this regard. That 
his Imperial sire warned him in regard to what 
we feared in the way of Berlin machinations is 
probable, though, of course, I could not know 
anything for a certainty. Bombelles, Hoyos and 
Potocki — who was now at the Embassy in 
London — had taken advantage of one occasion 
to touch lightly upon the matter and to suggest 
more guardedness on his part in his goings and 
comings, and in his familiarities with other 
societies than his own. The Prince's reception 
of their warnings proved, I was told afterwards, 
sufficient to restrain them from adventuring 
very deeply into the matter, for to the Archduke 
the very suggestion of ofnciousness, or even the 
presence of a busybody in his surroundings, was 
enough to call forth explosions of an anger which 
was hardly less than savage in its worst aspects. 



212 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

As I have told, he was a man of superb athletic 
development and strength, and, like humbler men, 
perhaps, he may have looked upon any suggestion 
that he should take especial precautions for the 
better safety of his own person as an imputation 
either on his courage or on his ability to protect 
himself. This was the view advanced by 
Bombelles, who probably knew the Archduke 
better than any of us and certainly was given 
more latitude by him. Personally, however, 
I am inclined to take another view : often in 
speaking of Napoleon, Prince Rudolph had com- 
mented on the simplicity of that great soldier, 
and more than once had recalled the astonishment 
with which, as historical records tell, his great- 
aunt, Marie Louise, on her arrival in France, had 
noted the slight attention which Napoleon paid to 
the protection of his person. This Archduchess, 
who had been accustomed to see her Imperial 
family guarded by relays of sentinels and private 
police, wondered that the Corsican should have 
shown so small a regard for his own personal 
safety in times especially perilous to all who wore 
the purple. It was the only trace of imitative- 
ness I had noted in the Archduke, but I am sure 
the example of Napoleon counted for something 
in this horror he showed at being guarded by 
soldiers and secret-service men. 

Often, too, have I heard him express envy at the 
" gentleman's freedom " — this was the phrase — of 
his friend the Prince of Wales, who was accustomed 
to move about London, or visit the race-courses of 



A CASE OF LOVE 213 

England, en bon bourgeois, and I remember his 
dwelling with a sort of boyish pleasure on the 
picture of the youthful Prince George of Wales 
and his sister, the Princess Victoria, inspecting 
the shop windows of the West End of London 
unattended, unanxious and almost unobserved. 
The extraordinary vigilance and caution which 
Szoegyeni exercised, when warning had been 
given him, naturally enough went through a 
cooling process, all the more so because there 
seemed to be no intention of immediate action on 
the part of Berlin ; or perhaps it may have been 
that Prussian agents in Vienna had already found 
venal spirits among those whose duty it was to 
watch over the Heir of the Habsburgs. 

In carrying the narrative over to the close of 
the year 1888, I may say that already the Arch- 
duke's attachment to Mademoiselle Vetsera, 
renewed and broken again by intervals of ab- 
sence — or indeed, of disagreements, which were 
not infrequent — was undergoing its inevitable 
denouement. And since in this especial case the 
Archduke appeared — whether through policy or 
not, I have no knowledge — to look for a final 
release, while the lady seemed to be desirous of 
binding him more closely to herself, I think I 
am right in assuming here that, for once at all 
events, the theory of my master, regarding 
princes and their mistresses, was at fault. For 
certainly, if this poor maid did not love the Arch- 
duke, then she was sacrificing both herself and 
her future in a very senseless way, supposing 



/ 



214 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

ambition to have been the leitmotif of the sacrifice 
to which few unmarried women of rank will 
submit, even in the case of an Imperial heir. And 
in this girl's case it was certainly the most hopeless 
of ambitions. I was not prejudiced in favour of 
the young lady, at the first ; but I am willing 
to admit that, at the end, I considered her 
attachment for the Archduke to be too genuine to 
admit of the supposition of its being feigned. I 
remember especially one occasion on which she 
sought an interview with my master, after one 
of those misunderstandings which seem to be the 
unvarying portion of illicit loves. It fell to my 
lot to be at hand during the momentary absence, 
in another chamber, of the Archduke, with a 
Viennese man of affairs, and I shall not easily 
forget either the beseeching, childish voice, with 
its strange tones of mingled hope and despair, or 
the feverish expectancy in the large dark eyes, 
when she asked my intervention on her behalf. 
At the Archduke's command, I conducted her 
to his private apartments, and my own experience 
of affairs of this kind was sufficient to allow me 
to know, when the doors closed on the two lovers, 
that at least one fair maid was happy in Vienna 
that afternoon. As the custodian, too, of the 
correspondence of the Heir- Apparent, I came to 
know that not only had the Baroness Vetsera 
written to the Archduke — evidently at the request 
of the Empress Elizabeth — asking him, for her 
daughter's sake, to put a term to a liaison which 
was causing unhappiness to both parents and 



lis 




^., 



MADEMOISELLE MARIE VETSERA. JANUARY, 



KOINOFF PROVES SHY 215 

child, but also I knew of a last note written by 
Marie Vetsera to her lover, in which she expressed 
her willingness, in his own interests, to agree 
that they should not meet again ; a letter, I could 
well understand, which was only wrung from her 
at the most painful of costs. Thereafter, I saw 
her no longer with the Archduke, nor at their 
usual rendezvous, but passed her several times 
in the Gardens, where the Vetsera carriages were 
the most splendid in the capital. And then it was 
no longer the Marie Vetsera of 1887, full-faced, 
red-lipped and with a look of smiling defiance 
in the great eyes, but a prematurely aged girl, 
listless and worn, with that strange contemplative 
look which more than once I have noted in those 
whose days are drawing to their close. 

My friend the old Feldkirchian appeared dis- 
posed, although closely in touch with Bombelles, 
I thought, to avoid me, and I had seen him at 
the close of the year not more than thrice, the 
last time in the Park, where I met him superbly 
mounted and looking unusually prosperous. I 
felt entitled, I must admit, to ask him the cause 
of this unexpected splendour, and did not hesitate 
to do so, since he was now in my debt to a very 
considerable sum. His explanation that a brilliant 
double-event bet, one which had found much 
vogue in that year at Vienna — namely, Tenebreuse 
and Veracity for the English autumn handicaps 
Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire — had been the 
source of his new-found wealth, hardly proved 
satisfactory, nor did my ex-schoolfellow appear 



216 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to desire giving any full details of his coup, not 
even to the extent of suggesting that a part of his 
winnings should be transferred to where they 
really belonged — namely, my own account. In- 
cidentally, I may say I was among the number of 
those who had been fortunate enough to touch 
the Tenebreuse-Veracity double-event, a piece of 
information which had come to the Archduke 
from Potocki, who was then in London. As 
usual, in that unfortunate year — over the close 
of which a veritable pall of melancholy hung with 
sinister foreboding — my master failed to take 
advantage of chances which won fortunes for 
some of his friends. 

It became part of my business, towards the 
end of 1888, to go through with Count Hoyos 
all documents relating to his financial affairs, 
and although we were prepared to discover a 
huge balance on the wrong side, it was with 
something like dismay that we found our- 
selves faced with a total amounting to nearly 
half -a -million sterling. Herein, I may say, there 
was a single hand at work which was clearly 
moved by enmity towards the Archduke. The 
bulk of the protested notes and bills, which 
poured in avalanche-wise, were held by Jews, who, 
it was easily explained at the time, were moved 
to active hostility to the members of the Imperial 
family by what had always struck myself as the 
somewhat insane attitude of Kaiser Franz to- 
wards the Hebrew tribe. This explanation was, 
I learned only too soon and, alas, too late, entirely 



THE MYSTERIOUS HAND 217 

false. The scrip relating to the Archduke's debts 
contracted during the previous few years had 
been bought up methodically and persistently 
by an agent in Berlin, whose business-like 
punctilio in presenting his demands was inspired 
by something keener than even the commercial 
acumen of the financial Hebrews of our capital, 
who, so far as my experience of them went, I 
always found to be what we usually termed in 
Vienna white Jews. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Chez Madame Larricarda — Unpopularity of Myself — Prussians 
attend her Receptions in Large Numbers — Koinoff a Note- 
worthy Absentee — Bombelles and Myself — My Last Visit to 
the Baroness Larricarda's — Some Accomplishments I possess 
— A Contretemps in the Card-room — A Stiff Retort — Am 
summoned to the Archduke's Study — Proposed Visit to 
Meyerling — I am given a Holiday — The Archduke on Game- 
shooting — The Prince on my Vigilance — What His Highness 
knew — A Healthy Habsburg Instinct — A Direct Warning from 
Marie Vetsera — The Archduke's Courage — His Hope for 
Austria's Future — The Triple Alliance in Practice — The 
Archduke's Opinion of Wilhelm II. — England's World-Role 
— " Carthage must be destroyed ! ' — His Hopes for Social 
Democracy — Prince Philip of Coburg 

At least one house in our gay capital seemed un- 
affected by the indefinable gloom which had cast 
its shadow over the last days of my master. 
That was the residence of Madame Larricarda, as 
I have chosen to call her. I had not ceased to 
attend her receptions, although I was perhaps the 
only one of the Archducal coterie who had con- 
tinued to do so since the Vetsera liaison came to a 
close. At the time, I remember, the fact that 
other members of the Archduke's " table- 
company " had ceased to appear at the Baroness's 
very open house did not awaken any surprise on 
my part, although the attitude of many of her 
visitors towards myself might have stirred a 
certain obtuseness which has ever characterised 
me in my relations with men and women with 

218 



A NEST OF PRUSSIANS 219 

whom I do not happen to be on terms of especial 
intimacy. Owing to this indifference on my part, 
it was not, indeed, till towards the last days of 
January that I began to realise that I seemed 
no longer to be on the same footing as of old. 
Not, certainly, so much that my hostess seemed 
less cordial, as that her attitude, when I paid 
my respects, appeared to be touched with some- 
thing of hesitancy and constraint. 

On taking stock of the situation at the 
Baroness's, once I had become conscious of a 
change of attitude and tone, towards myself, on 
the part of the majority of her most frequent 
visitors, I was not long in realising that the 
Baroness herself appeared to be no longer mistress 
in her own residence. As I have already told, 
her receptions were always noted for the number 
of men of the German corps diplomatique whom 
they attracted. My own frequent visits to Berlin, 
added to the fact that I had always cultivated a 
somewhat cosmopolitan detachment of mind in 
regard to all who spoke German, had had the 
effect of making me careless as to observing who 
was Prussian and who Austrian, although the 
social difference is great, the balance in respect 
of superiority of manner and general savoir- 
faire being entirely in favour of my countrymen. 
Awakened to closer observation, I noticed, how- 
ever, that not only were the Prussians in far 
greater number than ever, but that only a small 
fraction of them were at all connected with either 
diplomatic Berlin or its consular representatives. 



220 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Some, indeed, appeared to belong to that motley 
gathering of sharp individuals who are to be seen 
on every race-course in Europe — well-dressed, 
polyglot, easy-mannered and plausible. For 
Koinoff, in those days, I looked in vain ; as 
one who knew Berlin official and semi-official 
characters well, he might have given me some 
valuable information regarding the new arrivals 
who appeared to be so much at home in the 
Baroness's establishment. As a member of the 
Archducal household, I was not — as none of us, 
indeed, could boast of being — an acceptable 
person at the Nunciature ; consequently I was 
unable to call there, and in any case, the visit of 
a person so closely allied to Prince Rudolph must 
have awakened suspicions which would have 
been neither to his own benefit nor to that of my 
role of vigilance. With Count Bombelles, more- 
over, I was not on terms of anything like friendly 
intercourse towards the close of the year 1888, 
a state of affairs which was due, I think, to the 
fact that the Archduke had latterly been accus- 
tomed to accord me a degree of intimacy which the 
old chief equerry resented in one who was not 
only much younger than himself, but who was also 
a comparative stranger in a coterie in which, after 
the Crown Prmce, he had formerly played the 
part of a kind of eminence grise. I was hardly, 
then, unjustified in thinking that the somewhat 
novel attitude adopted towards me by the ex- 
scholastic of Feldkirch — an attitude the amusing 
aspect of which had not escaped my sense of 



I RECOMMEND MYSELF 221 

humour — was due to some suggestion on the part 
of Bombelles ; all the more so, as when I had 
ventured to question him regarding Koinoff's 
reliability the Count allowed me to understand 
that I was concerning myself with matters which 
did not lie in my province. 

The last visit paid by me to Baroness Larri- 
carda's took place, as my records tell me, on 
Friday, 25th January 1889, and on this occasion, 
one of somewhat boisterous festivity, I well re- 
member, I was left under no illusion by my 
hostess's Prussian guests that my presence was 
no longer looked upon with favour by the gentle- 
men from Berlin. Here I may say that one of the 
qualifications which had mainly recommended my 
humble self to the Archduke was my swordsman- 
ship, an art in which he himself excelled beyond 
all other men with whom I had ever crossed steel. 
I was, it may be added, the only one in his en- 
tourage capable of meeting him on anything like 
level terms. Although averse from the sport 
of slaughtering animals of any sort, I was never- 
theless known to be an excellent hand with the 
duelling -pistol. These were facts with which 
most men in Berlin and Vienna were well ac- 
quainted, and as my bearing was such as invariably 
won me respect in all male circles, I could regard 
with equanimity anything like a hostile attitude 
towards myself on the part of all and sundry who 
cared to indulge in this form of impertinence. 
Towards midnight on this particular occasion, 
finding few of my own acquaintances present, and 



222 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

feeling that I was avoided for some reason or 
other by the majority, I wandered towards the 
card -room, with some vague expectation of finding 
the Feldkirchian there. As I passed one of the 
tables at which an unusually spirited set were, 
Prussian fashion, playing a noisy game, I heard 
my name loudly called by a man of the party. 
There was no doubt about the intended offensive- 
ness, for as I turned towards the aggressor he 
added scornfully : 

" Your fellow-student, Koinoff, has shown the 
white feather and refuses to play the man. Are 
you hardy enough to play it, Oesterreicher ? If 
so, take a seat and let us see if you are as lucky 
with the cards as you are said to be with the 
horses." 

I had seen this man on Austrian and German 
race-courses, but had never made his acquaintance. 
For a Prussian to address an Austrian as Oester- 
reicher was held, in those days, I may say, to be 
a term indicating racial inferiority, as all present 
knew. 

" Sir," I retorted, " I have not the honour of 
your acquaintance, and do not even know your 
name. I hope, however, that it is a better one 
than your manners would seem to indicate." 

There was sufficient in what I said to constitute 
what any Prussian and most Austrians would call 
a " Beleidigung," or deliberate intention to offend, 
and my attitude emphasised the sense in which I 
intended the words to be understood. " Austrian, 
I certainly am, as you mention it," I added ; 



I PLAY MY CARD 223 

" but do not, please, forget that you are also the 
guest of one." 

My Prussian, who had clearly been drinking, 
hardly expected an answer of this sort, and sought 
with a weak laugh to give the matter a playful 
turn. 

" Come, now," he replied, " Koinoff has told 
us all about you. He is your friend, and since 
he declines the combat, you hold his reputation 
in your hands." 

" Mr Koinoff," I rejoined, " is no doubt equal 
to the task of protecting his own reputation*. He 
plays with friends. So do I. In this case, that 
could not be, since I do not know you, and you 
refuse your name. So be it ; you shall at all 
events have mine. Here it is : any friend of yours 
who cares to carry your name and requirements 
to that address shall receive every possible atten- 
tion. In the meantime, gentlemen, let me not 
disturb your game. I wish you a very good- 
night — though to you, sir," I added, addressing 
my aggressor, " I prefer to say — an revoir." 

Having delivered myself of this unequivocal 
little speech and placed my card upon the cable, 
I left the room and, soon afterwards, the place, 
for the last time in life. My steps took me to 
headquarters, where, as I was well aware, the 
Archduke was busily engaged upon a literary 
sketch which he had promised to his friend Weilen . 
It was the custom of his household at such times 
not to intrude upon his labours, and although 
I made my presence known to His Highness 



224 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

through Loschek, his body-servant, in case he 
should have any commands, I had no expectation 
of being called to his petits appartements. Some- 
what to my surprise, however, I received a 
summons to wait on him, and forthwith proceeded 
to his cabinet, where I found him in the throes of 
literary work. Simplicity was the note of every 
action of the Archduke, as indeed it was a salient 
characteristic of Kaiser Franz and all the members 
of this princely tribe, and he worked as any 
ordinary writer might be expected to work in his 
study, wearing a short sack-coat of blue silk, and 
smoking a long-stemmed rohrpfeife. He motioned 
me to a chair beside the fire of blazing logs. 

" Some of the game wants thinning at Meyer- 
ling," he began, " and I have decided to spend 
next week there with Prince Philip and Hoyos. 
So if you have any especial excursion you wish 
to make I shall be able to dispense with your 
services during my absence from Vienna. I 
return, of course, for Monday week — the fourth 
of February. You are free till then." 

A slight pause. 

" Your last visit to Meyerling was not a success, 
I fear," he went on ; " otherwise I should have 
included you in the party. But you do not 
shoot, I think ? " 

" My experience with a sporting gun has been 
limited," I replied, adding : " although I trust 
so small a matter will not deprive me of the honour 
of attending on your Highness." 

" No," he answered kindly, " you seemed bored 



A CROSS-EXAMINATION 225 

the last time you went down with us. Indeed, 
I hardly blame you. Slaughtering deer at close 
range, as we slaughter them, is not very sports- 
manlike, I fear. I have stalked them in Scotland, 
and I think they manage things better over there. 
At least from the deer's point of view," he added, 
with a laugh ; " there he gets a better chance for 
his life. No, you had better kill your time in 
some pleasanter manner during our absence. In 
any case, correspondence can wait." 

Here he rose and took his stand, back to the 
fire. 

" Tell me," he went on, half musingly and with 
a kindly smile, " little birds have been whispering 
to me lately. I hear you have been exercising 
your mind in an endeavour to penetrate the dark 
mysteries of Berlin's political underworld, and 
with especial reference to my own personal safety. 
Now why ? " 

" I will not attempt to deny the correctness of 
your Highness's information," was my answer ; 
" but my efforts limited themselves to investigat- 
ing the truth of rumours which had come to my 
knowledge." 

" And the purport of these rumours was ? '' 
he inquired. 

" Something very disastrous for our country — 
without a possibility of doubt ! " I replied. 

"Meaning, of course, an attempt on the life 
of the Emperor inspired by — Berlin ? ' : he 
suggested. 

It is an unfortunate condition of royal and 



226 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

imperial rank that those who can best serve 
princes are forbidden by a foolish etiquette from 
speaking to them as ordinary men speak to one 
another. A humorous fancy crossed my mind 
just then of Wolfram's Bocher answering such a 
suggestion, and in my mind's eye I could see him 
clapping a pair of fat hands upon the shoulders 
of the Heir of the Habsburgs, as he had done to 
Wolfram, telling the Archduke he was " a white 
Jew out of Cracow," and advising him that Berlin 
was thirsting for all the Habsburg blood in sight. 
I could not treat His Highness with this whole- 
some bluntness, so answered tentatively : 

" If all rumours are correct, I think that Berlin 
means to strike very deeply and " 

" — and include myself in its organised assas- 
sinations," my master interrupted. "But all this 
is known to myself and to the Emperor." 

It was on my lips to suggest that this being 
the case, both the Emperor and his Heir would 
serve their dynasty better by a less generous- 
minded neglect of precautions for their personal 
safety ; but, again, I wisely remembered and was 
silent. 

" I divine your thought," the Archduke ex- 
claimed. "You think that I expose myself too 
openly to the attack of the paid assassin. Perhaps 
I do ; perhaps my father does ; but believe me, it 
is the healthy instinct of the Habsburgs." 

Here he walked over to his writing-table and 
searched among some papers. 

" You saw my correspondence this morning," the 



HEALTHY HABSBURG INSTINCTS 227 

Prince went on. " Among them you noted one 
of our own cachet — here it is. Do you know the 
purport of this communication ? " he asked, 
holding up an envelope. 

" I could not guess, indeed," I replied, wondering 
who his correspondent might be. 

" This letter," he explained, "is a solemn 
warning to me not to go to Meyerling." 

I could only express a mute astonishment at 
what the Archduke told me. 

" And could you guess the writer's name ? 
No, you could not, I know. Well," he went on; 
"I will tell you. The writer was Mademoiselle 
Vetsera." 

I was certainly not prepared to hear this bit of 
information, and looked the surprise I felt. 

" This young lady," the Archduke proceeded, 
" is, as you may have heard, somewhat mystical 
in character. Of the sincerity of her intention 
I have no doubt. But do you think a thousand 
warnings would keep me from carrying out any 
programme I had decided on ? " 

" Unfortunately I am afraid not, Highness," 
I replied, and noted his answering laugh. 

" I think sufficiently highly of the princes of 
Europe," he replied, " to dare say that there is 
none who would allow the fear of death to prevent 
him from carrying out a set purpose. I doubt, 
however, if it could even enter into the mind of 
us Habsburgers to do so, and this, again, is what 
I call one of the wholesome instincts of the race. 
We may pass, but the throne remains. What does 



228 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

it matter which of us succeeds — myself or 
another ? " 

" The popular parties repose large hopes in 
your political activities," I replied. " It would 
be a bad thing for our country if the popular 
movement were arrested ; I would even say a 
dangerous thing for its integrity." 

" Do you remember that Napoleon once said 
he was more necessary to France than France was 
to him ? " the Archduke answered. " Well, that 
is precisely the position in which the Habsburgs 
stand towards Europe, and as long as we hold that 
position, the integrity of our Empire is safe. He 
will be a poor Habsburger who loses the Imperial 
throne irretrievably for our House and I will 
admit that only a Habsburger can hold the Empire 
together. Bismarck realised this in 1866 when 
the Prussian armies marched to within sight of 
the Hofburg towers, although his master, King 
William, was already anxious then to put Pan- 
Germanism to the test — to disintegrate the 
dominions, in other words. Had the attempt 
been made at that time, Europe would have risen 
in arms to prevent it, and Austria would have 
been reinstated in her headship of Germanic 
Europe. Our eclipse is not a permanent one, 
believe me, and we shall yet regain the headship 
of All-Germany. It is the logic of the map, and 
we are the only power in Germany able to hold 
it with unquestioned right and with Europe's 
respect. Napoleon saw this when he regretted, 
at St Helena, not having dismembered Prussia 



AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA 229 

and reduced it to its original proportions under 
the Elector. Fortunately the Habsburgs exist, 
so it is not necessary to invent us." 

" But the Triple Alliance," I suggested ; "it 
surely makes for the paramountcy of Prussia ? " 

" The Triple Alliance," replied the Prince, " is 
only a Triple Alliance on paper and in theory. 
As long as England owns a navy, she can decide 
absolutely the question of Italy's adherence to the 
terms of that document. Bismarck knows this. 
In practice it can only be a Dual Alliance, with 
a very half-hearted adherence on the part of 
Austria. Indeed, force majeure obliged Austria 
to enter into it ; the alternative was attack by 
Prussia. And against a European coalition, I 
can imagine but one ending. My father has 
shown greater prevision than men have credited 
him with. Austria stands to win in any event. 
With the break-up of Prussian militarism, the 
Confederation must fall. Bavaria and Saxony 
are with us at heart. The House of Habsburg 
still holds the best cards in all Germany, so far 
as I can see." 

" Would your Highness say," I asked, " if 
the new regime in Prussia is likely to precipitate 
the long-prophesied war ? " 

" With so neurotic a sovereign as the new 
Emperor," the Archduke replied, " one can 
never prophesy along conventional lines. If his 
speeches prove the measure of his character, then 
I should admit the approach of war as highly prob- 
able, since he rarely speaks without antagonising 



230 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

Europe. There, however, we enter into the domain 
of what his Chancellor has aptly termed imponder- 
abilia. Arguing from the long-set programme 
of Prussia, we are on safer grounds, and myself 
I think war a certainty of the future ; all the 
more so as it aims, by incorporating the Nether- 
lands in the Confederation, at the establishment of 
a great navy along an extended sea -board. Here 
England enters into the case, and it is very much 
to be doubted if she will look on idly at the 
building of a large naval force in the Baltic, which 
may well threaten her very sovereignty. In the 
days of Pitt such a plan and programme would 
never have gone beyond the stage of a suggestion 
or a dream. With its realisation in the custody 
of such a man as Kaiser Wilhelm, an enslaved 
world would witness the spectacle of a German 
Empire supported by the twin bulwarks of 
militarism and navalism, and the assured revival 
of Feudalism for a cycle of years. This is why 
' Carthage must be destroyed ' again, and it is 
also the reason why I have always held that the 
very existence of Britain and her possession of a 
naval power which she has not abused, almost 
point to providential intervention in human 
affairs. And again, it points the logic of my 
philosophy that Austria's loss of the headship of 
Germanic Europe is not a permanent one. But 
we are not going back to the Dark Ages ; les 
peuples sont trop eclaires, as Napoleon remarked 
to Roederer on the day following his Coronation 
in 1804 — the nations are becoming too enlightened, 



A FORBIDDING PRINCE 231 

and even in the Confederation there is now 
growing into manhood a giant which may save 
Germany from its insanities ; it is called Social 
Democracy." 

I was far from displeased at the prospect of not 
having to go to Meyerling, in the first place, 
because I am not a willing slayer of life, and 
secondly, because my conge would enable me to 
avoid a meeting with Prince Philip of Coburg, 
a man of sinister presence and, in my own opinion, 
one whose friendship towards my master did not 
stand the test of a close analysis. That Made- 
moiselle Vetsera should have directly warned the 
Archduke not to proceed to Meyerling was a 
matter which gave me much whereon to ponder. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Prince Rudolph as Sportsman — His Exploits in Danubian 
Countries — A Student of Zoological Traits — Some Deductions 
from his Studies — An Emersonian Bias — Game-hunting in 
German Countries — A Chapter from Comhill — A Favourite 
Keeper — The Ritual of Deer-hunting — Tracking the Roe — 
Placing the Guns — Beaters at Work — Routing out the Game 
— Some Democratic Touches — Congratulations on Sports- 
manship — A Processional Return Homewards — The Song of 
the Beaters 

Prince Rudolph, it is well known, had written 
several notable works, one a description of the 
Danube, with particular reference to the zoological 
aspects of its vast forestries. He had hunted the 
chamois in Styria, trapped wolves on the Lower 
Danube and helped to thin out the deer wilds 
of Under Austria and South Germany generally, 
for he was ever a welcome addition to all the great 
sporting estates within easy reach of our capital. 
I often doubted, however, if he found any real 
pleasure in slaying animals, and, indeed, Dr Udel 
once assured me that his hunting excursions were 
mainly designed with a view to studying at close 
range the traits and habits of the beasts of the 
forest. He had also made a protracted investiga- 
tion into the beaver colonies of the Danubian 
reaches, and was said to have observed that the 
result of his observations had forced him into a 
stronger realisation than ever that man's claim 

232 



AN EMERSONIAN BIAS 233 

to be endowed with a divinely created intelligence 
was the outcome of arrogance and pride. 

As he grew older and read more profoundly — 
and there has been no more deeply read prince 
in the history of the world — it was easy to note 
that his mind became touched with that inevit- 
able melancholy that follows upon philosophical 
speculation which pathetically enough seeks to 
reconcile things as they are with the claim of 
those religious teachers who maintain that there 
is a better world to come. He had observed, 
among animals in the wilderness, I once heard him 
say, every evidence of an elementary morality 
which was based on a natural law of possession ; 
among domesticated animals this sense grows 
into something akin to a rudimentary code, and 
in the higher types we find unmistakable indica- 
tions that they possess the quality of self-respect, 
which is a safe enough basis for those moral 
ideas which, in the case of man, ultimately find 
their efflorescence in a religious law. His mind 
was, indeed, drifting towards the Emersonian 
idea of " Compensation " as affording a sufficiently 
sound explanation of such ideas as conscience and 
honour as the basis of a religion, but which, of 
course, does not pretend to foreshadow a future 
existence. As to that future existence, I am 
certain that the Archduke Rudolph believed in 
none, though his intimates more than once heard 
him declare that he would willingly have gone 
back to the unquestioning beliefs of his early 
years — the inevitable despair, I think, of most men 



234 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

who have studied the history of human thought 
and action. 

Returning to the question of the Prince's love 
of the chase, I may say that he indulged in sporting 
pursuits for just such reasons as induce many an 
Englishman to follow hounds or range the moors 
— with the object, namely, of keeping in good 
condition. About the business of the chase, too, 
I have remarked, in German countries, a certain 
amount of what I can only call infantility of 
procedure and action and nothing like sports- 
manly regard for the animal which affords the 
fun — a trait which many English game-hunters 
have remarked upon at parties which I have 
attended. In an excellent English magazine, 
the CornhiU, which finds much vogue in our 
country, I once read an article dealing with deer- 
hunting in South Germany, and as it records in 
perfect detail the programme of one of those 
excursions in the properties over which the Arch- 
duke used to shoot, I here reproduce in part, as 
affording English readers some idea of our sport- 
ing ways : 

Rising to dress by candle-light, peering out 
into the darkness to discern the state of the 
weather, snatching a hurried and imperfect break- 
fast, driving in a cramped conveyance along a 
dull white road between long and silent stretches 
of forest, with the damp, grey night-mist still 
dragging slowly over the firs and with the cold 
barrels of a gun numbing one's fingers — such are 



AT THE WHITE EAGLE 235 

the ordinary preliminaries to a day's shooting in 
German countries. When the hot strong sun 
of the south gathers up these mist-clouds and 
sends them rolling away westward, when the hills 
along the horizon begin to show themselves of a 
gloomy green, when a clearance in the great forest 
around you shows a large many -windowed wooden 
chalet with projecting roof, as ruddy in its deep 
brown hues as any hut of the Swiss valleys, you 
are led to expect something entirely different 
from the steady, business-like and rather tame 
pursuit of partridges which generally follows the 
drive to cover in England. A hen capercailzie, 
with her great brown wings outstretched, sails 
quickly overhead ; a fox stands quietly in an 
adjacent field and watches you drive past; a 
blue hare flashes across the road and disappears 
into the wood. No; this is clearly not England. 
But the drive over — what then ? Another of 
those great wooden chalets comes into view, the 
strong sunlight making its rich brown gables 
almost red, and there are people walking about 
and vehicles in front of the door, and over the 
window a noble painting which bears the legend 
" Zum Weiszen Adler " — At the sign of the White 
Eagle. Those boys outside have borrowed a 
holiday from the national school in order to form 
a corps of beaters, and they are already receiving 
jerky and half -grumbling instructions from one 
of the Prince's keepers — the ancient, phlegmatic, 
morose and picturesque Schaller. Imagine a 
little man dressed wholly in grey and green with 



236 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

a large slouched hat adorned with jay's feathers, a 
thin brownish-white face, a large nose, a big black 
moustache and small deep-set eyes, a horn slung 
round his neck, a gun pendent from one shoulder 
and a cartridge bag of roe-skin hanging from the 
other. He is one of the oldest and most experi- 
enced of the Prince's keepers, and it is his proud 
boast that he is the only one whom the Prince 
addresses as " Du." The other keepers are inside 
in the spacious, low-roofed, eight-windowed room 
which is the chief glory of each small hostelry : 
and through the haze of badly-smelling tobacco- 
smoke, we can dimly discern their short, brawny 
figures, clad in the same picturesque dress which 
Schaller wears, though for the most part they have 
bushy brown beards and moustaches on their sun- 
tanned faces. 

In a little while the party is mustered on the 
road outside. The Prince's overseer for this dis- 
trict, a splendid fellow with immense shoulders and 
arms, leads the way, attended by two or three 
sportsmen who have been included in the invitation 
— each one in gaiters, decorated stalker's hat and 
jacket, with horn, pouch and dispatching-knife. 

" Vorwarts, alle in Gottes Namen," shouts our 
chief, mindful of the fact that hunting has its 
ritual. Every gun, with its green strap affixed, 
is thrown over each shoulder and we all stride 
forward. 

The slight wind now blows in the direction in 
which we are marching ; it is necessary, therefore, 
to go to the extreme end of the ground to be 



ROUTING OUT THE ROE 237 

traversed and work backward, for there are few 
animals which possess so intensely keen a scent 
as the roe, and the greatest caution has to be 
exercised in order to keep to leeward of them. 
In some districts where the roe lie in small covers 
and are likely to be scared away altogether if 
driven too hard by dogs, it is sufficient to send in 
a few beaters who do not even make the peculiar 
rattling noise with which they ordinarily arouse 
the deer. The mere scent of the beaters is enough 
to send the roe on lightly towards the sportsman 
who, in such a case, generally gets an easy shot. 
On this morning, however, we were plentifully 
provided with dogs — beagles, with heads of the 
usual beagle type and size, little body and no legs 
to speak of, but merely squat stumps, exceedingly 
thick and muscular, with large, soft outwardly- 
turned paws. These animals possess the merit 
of working slowly and steadily and never tire 
and, despite their apparent limitations, make 
their way through the mossy swamps and the 
thick bush and bracken much more easily than 
one would imagine. The Prince's huge black 
hound, Hector, invaluable in tracking wounded 
deer, is the only dog of large proportions present. 

" Gentlemen," cries a well-known local trapper 
and huntsman, who acts as a kind of master of 
ceremonies, " whosoever shoots on old hare shall 
be fined a crown, to be exacted from him on the 
spot. Young hares you may shoot as you please." 

This speech is part of the ritual — indeed, a 
kind of joke and everybody laughs ; although we 



238 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

are well aware that not only are we forbidden to 
shoot the doe, but also capercailzie and foxes 
which are considered good shooting, and are 
rarely hunted in German forests, their principal 
role in life being the destruction of young roe and 
the despoiling of poultry-farms. Suddenly the 
party comes to a halt. The keepers cluster 
round the local sportsman, or master of cere- 
monies, who gives each man his appointed place 
and instructions. Schaller draws off his troop of 
men, boys and dogs, and disappears into the 
forest. We too enter the thick woods, but by a 
different bridle-path. Here there is no under- 
wood ; down between the lichen grey stems of 
the magnificent pines and firs, the sunlight falls 
in great shafts and lights up the soft, springy 
green moss into a brilliant orange and gold. 
Occasionally we cross a deep glade which runs 
into some unseen valley, and in one of these 
glades the underwood begins. Our posts are 
assigned us. In all such battues there are one 
or two stations which are known by long experi- 
ence to be the best — the preferable of these two, 
called the Hauptplatz, or principal place, being 
generally marked with the initial of the person 
who is considered the guest of honour. On the 
occasion of my outing with the guns, I found 
myself assigned to a post behind a large pine, 
about twenty yards from the underwood of larch 
and birch, and almost opposite two deer-tracks 
which converged on one point. Fortunately 
mine was not the Hauptplatz. 



THE BEATERS AT WORK 239 

When all the posts have been filled, each man 
must hold up his hand, thus conveying to his 
next neighbour an intimation of his exact position, 
a duty which no one who has felt a charge of 
shot whiz by his ear will ever neglect. Pre- 
sently we heard a long low blast from the horn 
of the keeper who was at the extreme end of 
the guns — a message to Schaller announcing our 
readiness for action. This signal was replied to 
by a fine flourish from Schaller himself, and it is 
not until this reply is given that the guns are 
supposed to be on the alert. Far off we could 
hear the drivers at work, striking the trees with 
their staves and uttering a loud " purr " that 
echoed through the wood. Then with a joyful 
roar, two of the dogs gave tongue and the sharp 
music rang through the stillness of the wood, but 
was yet far distant, the sounds becoming fainter 
or louder, allowing us to trace the course of the 
hounds as they worked in different directions. 
Then out of the perfect silence of the tall brush- 
wood leapt a beautiful deer in a shining coat of 
yellow-brown, and not thirty yards away, a 
handsome buck ; but both escaped, the attention 
of the gun on the Hauptplatz being temporarily 
diverted — much to my satisfaction. Hector, 
baying and rushing like a fiend, nosed out two 
does and a little fawn hardly much longer in the 
body than a hare. The first doe passed through 
the brushwood like a flash of lightning ; the 
second one, evidently the mother, kept by its side, 
and both came so near to me that I could have 



240 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

accounted for them both with one barrel. In a 
short time the sound of the beaters came closer, 
the boys struggling through the young firs, and 
a flourish of the horn brought us together in one 
group. My account of the way in which I had 
sacrificed a beautiful pair of buck-horns did 
not appear quite satisfactory, and though, of 
course, no complaint was uttered, I felt that 
keepers and beaters had their own opinion of my 
sportsmanship. 

Our next effort proved a blank and only a few 
doe were turned out by hounds, an occasional 
fox being startled — forbidden game, however. 
A third beat was more successful, dogs giving 
tongue at once and several buck fell to the guns. 
The drive over, up walks the nearest keeper to 
the fortunate sportsman and offering his hand 
with profuse compliments congratulates him on 
having secured a splendid pair of horns, finishing 
this ceremony by sticking a sprig of young fir in 
the shooter's hat — a sprig for every buck that 
has fallen to his gun. Again, we plunged into 
the forest for a fourth drive, an unusually long 
one, and a considerable time elapsed before the 
horn announced the setting of the guns. In the 
interval which ensued between the answering 
flourish of the horn a splendid buck was seen 
passing rapidly along our front, making for a 
mass of young trees which must certainly allow 
him to escape. Giving him a single barrel, I 
failed to stop his progress, and fired the second 
as he broke into the brushwood. Presently I 



THE HOMEWARD MARCH 241 

heard a long, deep groan and fearing to leave my 
post in case a charge of shot should come rattling 
round my ears, I re-loaded just in time to catch 
a doe hunted by Hector, and by bringing the 
animal down at least saved my reputation. As 
the keepers approached to congratulate me, a 
loud whirring noise overhead attracted my 
attention. It was a fine cock-capercailzie and I 
had the satisfaction of tumbling it down at the 
feet of the occupant of the Hauptplatz, who in his 
own kindly way congratulated me on having 
done my humble share of justice to his preserves. 
The return homewards was in the nature of 
a procession, the whole party marching along the 
winding roadway to the Lodge, boys in front 
carrying the various heads which had fallen to 
the guns and occasionally breaking into the local 
hunting-songs, one of which still haunts my ears : 

Im Wald und auf der Haide 
Da such' ich meine Freude 

Ich bin ein Jager's Mann, 

Ich bin ein Jager's Mann. 
Den Wald und Forst zu hegen 
Das Wildpret zu erlegen, 

Das ist's was mir gefallt, 

Das ist's was mir gefallt 
Halli, hallo, halli, hallo, halalli. 

Das ist's was mir gefallt 
Halli, hallo, halalli ! 
Halli, hallo, halalli. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Prince Rudolph's alleged Suicidal Mania — The Philosophy of 
Suicides — Pessimists and Optimists — Napoleon's Ideas on 
Suicide those of the Archduke — Reasons against the Theory of 
Prince Rudolph's Suicide — 26th January 1889 — The Archduke's 
Ideas about German Actors and the Theatre in General — 
"Elemental Men and Simians" — An Improvised Comedy — 
The Archduke as Stage Napoleon — Bismarck and Playgoers 
— Ideas about Music — "Cleverly harmonised Rumpus" — 
Wagner's Hypnotic Powers — A Theory of Success in Life — 
Wagner and the Artistic Temperament — Archducal Ideas on 
Painting and Literature — A Visit to the Rubens Gallery — Art 
and a Physiological Question 

Writers who have touched circumstantially on 
the short if somewhat complex annals of the life 
of the Archduke Rudolph seem to agree in the 
view that from earliest manhood the idea of 
suicide was constantly present to his mind. They 
emphasise the fact all the more firmly because of 
the alleged self-murder of his blood -kinsman, 
King Ludwig of Bavaria, in 1886, and again on the 
ground that in all the members of the Wittelsbach 
family there ran a potent strain of eccentricity 
which was hardly differentiate from impulsive 
insanity. The Archduke was, therefore, they 
argue, predisposed, by hereditary influences, to 
those maniacal ideas which often culminate in 
self-destruction. Acute eccentricity was, they 
conclude, not less marked in himself than in other 
members of his family, and his method of life 

242 



PHILOSOPHY OF SUICIDES 243 

pointed to the probability of a violent end. All 
which views are, I may say, those of observers 
from the distant outside. 

My role shall certainly not be that of the 
peisithanatos, or counsellor of death, as the 
Greeks called a certain philosophic pundit who 
advocated suicide as the easiest solution of the 
misery of being alive. Nevertheless, I maintain 
that such a philosophy was not entirely without 
some reasonable foundation of its own, and, in my 
opinion, few men can reflect seriously on the 
ponderable advantages and values which even the 
lengthiest and most successful life can offer, and 
— if they possess a humour-sense, a proportion- 
sense and, above all, a time-sense — not turn with 
despair from the abysmal inanity of the prospect 
offered to the candidate for, say, a seventy-year 
span of life. In another place I have expressed the 
view that plodding pessimists really rule the world, 
and, indeed, hope to be gathered to a vaster void 
strong in that pious belief. So-called optimism, 
or delight in this best of all possible worlds, is not 
only the philosophy of the impossibly philosophic ; 
it is also the cloak with which frank and logical 
enough Philistines seek either to hide from the 
world their own villainies, or from themselves and 
others, the villainies of which they are the victims. 

Certainly, I admit, I often heard my master 
discuss the question of suicide, and if I was not 
positive that his sense of duty to his own august 
House, as well as to his Fatherland, was not as 
strong as that which is the first great unquestionable 



244 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

characteristic of his father, Kaiser Franz, I should 
incline to the view that he was of the type of 
philosopher who is capable of self-annihilation in 
order — for all Hamlet's doubts upon the subject 
— to release himself from the consciousness of 
being alive. Men who knew him will remember 
well a phrase of Napoleon's which was often on his 
lips : " II faut vouloir vivre et savoir mourir — we 
must will to live and know how to die " ; a phil- 
osophy in this matter which the great soldier acted 
up to, even as he did in the matter of religion, 
solely for considerations connected with the 
dynasty he had founded — my own view, of course. 
Again, however, I have to say that Prince Rudolph 
followed the French Emperor's reasoning in 
another phase of the question. 

The Corsican, it will be remembered, held that 
if life became a burden, either physically or 
psychically, to any man, he was justified in self- 
destruction, providing — Napoleon emphasised the 
condition — that his suicide caused no detriment to 
others, and that its motive was not to release the 
suicide from heavy obligations to himself, to his 
relatives, or to his country. If, however, added 
the Corsican, a man be moved to the act of despair 
simply because Fortune appears to have deserted 
him, he at any rate refused to condone suicide, and 
on the ground that ever-changeful Fortune, which 
frowns to-day, is quite as likely to smile to-morrow. 
Had his attachment to his country and its fortunes 
been a less salient trait in my master ; had the 
succession been so established as to assure the best 



OUR LAST SYMPOSIUM 245 

interests of Austria -Hungary remaining stable 
and hopeful ; had the Archducal menage been a 
source of fret fulness to him, or even had his 
health of mind and body suggested anything 
like life-weariness, then I might have admitted 
a strong presumption for the view that he had 
premeditated self-destruction. None of the above 
conditions, however, pointed any way but in his 
favour, and, given his gay demeanour and aban- 
don on the last evening on which he met his per- 
sonal coterie, the tragedy of Meyerling, to those 
who were with him in that final symposium, 
came with a shock that well-nigh unseated reason 
itself. 

It was on the night of 26th January 1889 that 
a few of his more favoured personal friends met 
him for the last time at the Hofburg. The hour, 
for ordinary persons, was late, and the Archduke 
had returned from the theatre, of which form of 
entertainment, if light opera be excepted, he 
was no very strict devotee. Indeed, it became 
with him a commonplace vow, which in the end 
we all came to look upon as a jest, that he would 
attend no more theatrical representations. My 
countrymen, particularly those of the capital, are 
hardened enough theatre-goers, and the Arch- 
duke's indifference to the drama was a trait which, 
if it did not offend, at least puzzled most of his 
intimates. To myself, however, it appeared to 
indicate the essential seriousness of his character, 
for though I am a willing spectator of well- 
enacted dramatic pieces, I am no believer in the 



246 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

theory that there is anything like serious educative 
principle underlying the art of the stage. 

Prince Rudolph, moreover, often gave utter- 
ance to the sentiment that he found it hard to 
understand in Napoleon the extraordinary interest 
which that wonderful intellect displayed in the 
drama — he the greatest and most real of all the 
genuine enactors of the world's history, as he used 
to declare. 

" I divide men," he said, on this night, " into 
two categories — elemental men and simians, and 
of all the sorry simians of creation, the stage - 
actor is the most ridiculous and most tragical, 
since he must be essentially wanting in the first 
characteristic of intellectual worth, namely, 
reasoned self -consciousness. Enacting to-day the 
role of a statesman, to-morrow that of a soldier, 
the day after the part of a Scapin — bah, what 
possible fixity of character can such beings possess, 
and what claim can characterless creatures of 
this kind reasonably advance to teach the public 
how a Richelieu, a Cromwell, a Caesar thought, or 
looked, or acted in the various crises of their lives ? 
I have seen Napoleon depicted on the stage and 
anything more denature and unlike the intensely 
elemental and natural figure of the somewhat 
bourgeois Corsican I could not imagine. Do I, 
does any educated person, require an inferior 
mind to represent to me the real Caesar whom I 
can re-construct for myself from authentic history, 
or a Hamlet whom only a philosophic mind can 
conjure up ? Scapin, yes and all the comedy of 



A SENSE OF COMEDY 247 

Moliere — actors who can make us forget that we 
exist ; or women on the stage — yes, here we are 
on safe ground, for it is woman's right to display 
her charms and petits talents as publicly as possible. 
And I will always make an exception, too, for 
singers of both sexes, for here it is possible to 
establish a standard, and the gift of great song is 
assuredly a divine gift. But to witness the effort 
of a skinny mummer trying to depict a Cromwell 
or a Napoleon — yes, especially Bonaparte — oh, 
heaven protect us ! " 

The Archduke possessed a sense of comedy 
which was extremely amusing when he cared to 
exercise it in imitating the ludicrous solemnities 
and ponderous attitudes of personages with whom 
he came at times in contact. To see the great 
and serious unbend in this way is not only very 
charming, but can also be excruciatingly funny, 
and Bismarck, to my own knowledge, was also 
eminently successful in amusing his favourites 
with this form of social entertainment. The 
Archduke's imitation of the stage-Bonaparte was 
exceptionally good : the Corsican embracing his 
Empress — with a scowl ; or ordering Constant to 
bring the historic hat — with arms folded, shoulders 
raised and a satanic chin buried in his breast ; 
or giving simple instructions to an aide-de-camp 
— hands clasped behind the hips and an eye to 
make a centaur quail ; or dictating to Bourrienne 
— his face pale with anger and his gestures full 
of fury. I have never seen Napoleon repre- 
sented on the stage, and if this be the Corsican 



248 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of drama, have no desire to experience a dis- 
illusionment. 

" But," objected Neumann, " the German is 
not a natural actor, and your Highness knows 
what Bismarck says of the serious German drama : 
the upper orders go in order to learn how not to 
act in their own lives ; the educated orders go to 
ridicule ; while the lower order goes only to see 
the other two." 

" Nevertheless," replied the Prince, " bad 
drama gives the public an entirely false conception 
of history, and worse still a false idea of the classes 
which rule them. You quote Bismarck ; he has 
also said, you remember, that a nation which 
cannot produce good actors cannot produce good 
diplomatists. And there I am in entire agreement 
with him." 

By an easy transition the conversation passed 
to a discussion of other departments of art, about 
which none of us was at all enthusiastic, I may 
say. In music — for which I have myself little 
ear — the Archduke's taste inclined mainly to the 
Hungarian type, although he called Beethoven, 
and I am told, called him correctly, the greatest 
of all composers. Wagnerian music he once de- 
clared to be " cleverly harmonised rumpus," and 
on this particular night he repeated the expression, 
adding that the devotees of Wagner were for the 
most part the victims of a self-delusion based on 
suggestion. 

" The career of a charlatan like Wagner," said 
the Prince, " almost supplies me with a new theory 



THE WAGNERIAN IDEA 249 

of success in life. Wagner, it seems clear enough, 
possesses in a powerful degree the gift of hypno- 
tising his own circle of intimates — most of whom, 
you know, are men of influence in literary and 
journalistic circles. Well, now, when Doctor 
Wagner composes, let us suppose, an especially 
uproarious phase of music, he invites his friends 
to hear him play it over. He plays it over and 
they listen. ' That,' says the Doctor impressively, 
4 represents a blizzard in the Alps ' ; and Wagner 
has that especial kind of mental influence which 
easily imposes on men of the satellite temperament, 
including a gift of words and imagery by which he 
easily seduces the minds of his friends into an 
acceptance of his claims and explanations. Ac- 
cordingly, his circle of intimates, self-hypnotised 
with the belief that they are in the presence of the 
wonderful, make haste — as much in their own as 
in their patron's interest, be it understood — to 
make known to the world the fact that the Doctor's 
genius has broken out in a fresh place." 

" Oh, but I beg of your Highness," deprecatingly 
said Hoyos, " to remember that the modern 
world is divided into men, women and Wagnerites. 
Hypnotism — yes, I grant its influence. But 
hypnotism that breaks up families, that splits the 
hemispheres, that affects to provide the measure 
of good taste and bad taste — oh, I give it up." 

" My poor Hoyos," returned the Archduke, with 
affected concern for the Chamberlain, " all this is 
the theory of success in life to which I am coming. 
What, for instance, is the end of life ? Why, self- 



250 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

expression ; and the man who expresses himself 
most forcefully is the man who goes farthest. In 
politics, in literature, in journalism, in religion, 
in business — every man who succeeds has done so 
by virtue of the fact that he has made himself 
the centre of a circle all the other members of 
which diffuse his ideas centrifugal-fashion. Do 
you remember, gentlemen, that Napoleon in- 
vented a theory in war that ' one should never 
manoeuvre save round a fixed point — il ne faut 
manoeuvrer qu'autour d'une pointe fixe ' ? Well, 
here you have the real strategy of life which has 
been practised in all ages by those who possessed 
ambition and the ability to impose their ideas on 
men who were content to play subsidiary roles 
and carry out the ideas involved. It is the theory 
on which task-industry is founded, and never fails 
to produce results. Some of these ideas are 
sound, others unsound ; but the strategy works 
in all cases, given the organisation, and in the 
case of social movements and religious sects which 
spring up mushroom-wise day by day, this is 
certainly the principle at work — a question of one 
central influence and submission on the part of 
the satellites. Voyons done, it is the atomic idea 
— the principle of our own universe. Are we not 
children of the Sun ? " 

"Accordingly, then," said the Baron, with, I 
thought, some want of tact, " your Highness 
would say that real ability does not rule the world 
— or rarely ; for what man of real and originating 
ability consents to be a satellite ? " 



THE TEMPERAMENTALISTS 251 

" That is entirely the view, my dear Neumann," 
returned the Prince ; " real ability sometimes 
rules the affairs of men, but certainly not always. 
It is largely a question of hypnotising others into 
a belief in an idea and yourself. If Archimedes 
had been a politician instead of a mathematician, 
he would have asked for an idea, not a lever. And 
this accounts, too, for Napoleon's hatred of what 
he called the ideologue. Every clever man with a 
fixed idea was a menace to the system of which the 
Corsican was the central sun." 

" And Wagner," said Hoyos, who was musically 
disposed, " is then to be accounted among the 
disseminators of unsound notions ? ' : 

44 So far as myself is concerned — certainly, 
Hoyos," replied the Archduke, 44 though I am not 
a great musician, as you know. His appeal is not 
necessarily made to artists, although many, I 
believe, have given him their adherence. I should 
say rather that he finds his suffrages mainly among 
those who possess what they claim to be the artistic 
temperament. I have met many sane artists, but 
I have never yet met one of them boast of the 
possession of the artistic temperament. That 
seems to be the privilege of non-performers or 
non-executants who wish to advertise to properly 
self-possessed people that, under the influence of, 
say, a picture of which they do not understand 
the technique, or of music which only titivates 
their spinal cords, their emotions become too 
powerful for their self-restraint. I have watched 
these animals at the Opera. They remind me 



252 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of old virgins who have decided not to die 
guessing." 

There was, in my opinion, too much of the soldier- 
statesman in the Archduke Rudolph to permit 
of anything like dilettantism, and, indeed, I think 
that Political Economy, History and Labour 
questions interested him far more than any other 
study except Ornithology, in which he was a 
notable expert among experts. Accordingly when 
at our last symposium we turned on the question 
of Painting, it was not surprising to find — as I 
had long known, of course — that in the matter 
of the various Schools he was hardly much better 
informed than myself, his tastes leaning mainly 
to art-work, which made a direct appeal to his 
historical sense or to his sense of physical beauty 
as shown in portraiture. 

" In Art I find hardly less affectation," he said, 
" than in Music and Literature. Of Music I 
know very little, and in German Literature I will 
follow Prince Bismarck to the extent of making 
anyone who asks a present of three-fourths of all 
that Goethe has written and still undertake to 
possess all Goethe — the real Goethe. Shakespeare 
and Moliere contain the whole conspectus of life 
for myself, and if I want genre life I can find it in 
Jokai or in Henri Conscience the Fleming. In Art, 
Meissonier suits my historical sense, and in por- 
traiture Sarto. The sombre tints of the Roman 
and Bolognese schools attract me in preference 
to the vivid colouring of the Venetian artists, and 
though the Crown Princess preaches Rubens to me 



ART AND POTOCKI 253 

as a kind of religion, I cannot accept his types. 
And this reminds me," he added gaily, " of a visit 
I once paid to Antwerp to the Rubens Gallery in 
that city with Arthur Potocki. It was during a 
family visit to Brussels that the Archduchess 
suggested my renewing acquaintance with the 
Flemish painter, and perhaps correcting my 
vicious taste, as Her Highness put it. Accordingly 
Potocki and myself made our way to Antwerp, 
and though neither of us was especially interested 
we decided to visit the Gallery out of regard for 
the wishes of the Archduchess. 

" At the Rubens Gallery, as you probably will 
know, there is a famous triptych the wing-pictures 
of which represent Adam to the left, Eve to the 
right — life-size figures in the tout ensemble, and 
in the course of our progress through the great 
galleries we duly arrived in front of the triptych, 
where I was to hear, as it happened, one of the 
most extraordinary comments yet made on the 
pictorial art, and, of all men, from Arthur Potocki, 
who knows less than I do myself about such 
matters. In those days Potocki wore a monocle, 
and on arriving in front of our triptych he ad- 
justed the eyeglass and began to study the nude 
figures of both Adam and Eve in an unusually 
fixed and studious way — so fixedly and studi- 
ously, indeed, and with such obvious ostentatious- 
ness, that I was moved by curiosity to watch him. 
He paid no heed to myself, however, but continued 
to gaze at each figure, walking now to one and then 
to the other, indulging at the same time in a little 



254 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

snuffling kind of laugh for which I could not 
account, and which I considered very unseemly. 
I wished to continue our progress, and suggested 
that we should move on, and, as he appeared not 
to hear me, did so myself. When about ten yards 
away from him, I turned round, only to behold 
him still gazing with profound fascination at the 
figures in the triptych. As visitors were also 
beginning to note his attitude, I returned to him 
and again suggested that we should continue our 
progress. For answer he pointed to the figures. 

" ' That is Adam there, is it not ? ' he asked 
vacantly. ' And of course this is Eve ? Wonder- 
ful, wonderful ! ' 

" ' Come, Potocki, you are making yourself 
ridiculous,' I protested ; 4 and people are beginning 
to stare. Let us continue.' 

" ' Well,' he replied, ' all that may be very 
good Art, for what I know. But it's very bad 
physiology.' 

" ' Indeed ! ' I rejoined, somewhat irritably. 
1 Perhaps you will be good enough to explain how.' 

" ' Why, your Highness,' he replied, ' if these 
figures represent Adam and Eve, why, in the name 
of all that's wonderful, were they painted with 
navels ? Where the devil did they get navels ? ' 

" Which went to show that Potocki was at 
least a good pre-Raphaelite," added the Prince. 

The Archduke bade us good-bye towards the 
early morning hours. This was the last occasion 
on which I saw my master alive and touched his 
hand. 



CHAPTER XIX 

The Crown Lands of Baden — The Schloss of Meyerling— Formerly 
a Cistercian Convent — The Archducal Apartments — Late Hours 
at the Lodge — A Message from His Highness — A Visit to the 
Hofburg Library — I meet Wolfram — Decide on a Sojourn at 
Heiligen Kreuz — A Rencontre at the Southern Station — Another 
Surprise at Baden — A Walk to Heiligen Kreuz — Herr Wirt of the 
Gasthaus— His Archducal Visitor— A Bottle of Tokay— A Rough 
Quartette of Prussians — My Landlord's Recollections — The 
Witch of Alland— A Prophecy to Kaiser Franz— My Servant 
fails me — Only appears at Breakfast-time — His Adventures in 
the Night — The Road to Meyerling and back to the Kreuz 

Baden lies about twenty miles to the south of 
Vienna, and consists for the most part of Imperial 
Crown lands, with princely establishments and 
appurtenances of the Habsburg family — castles 
occupied mainly by members of the grand arch- 
ducal family whose number is large. To the 
west of Baden, running in a northerly direction 
through a thickly wooded district of highland 
and vale, are the village-towns of Heiligen Kreuz 
or Holy Cross, and Alland. Beyond these, and 
at a distance of about fourteen miles from Baden, 
is Meyerling, lying in a valley, a most romantic 
spot, the inhabitants of which number not more 
than one hundred people. Approaching the 
hamlet by the high road and before descending 
into the vale, the first important object on the 
landscape is the Schloss, which stands on the only 
eminence within the narrow radius. The Schloss 
255 



256 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

of Meyerling has nothing particularly princely 
in its aspect and consists of several straggling 
houses with round and pointed towers, the build- 
ings a washy white, according to the mountain 
fashion and altogether suggesting the residence 
of a prosperous minor squire or retired Viennese 
business man. A deer park of generous extent 
encircles the Castle, timbered mainly with pine 
or spruce, and sloping to the several roads which 
cut the main highway, south and south-west, 
at sharp angles, the whole estate being enclosed 
by a wall some miles in circumference. 

Whether or not the Schloss was the private 
purchase of the Archduke, or whether it belonged 
to the Imperial Crown, I am now unable to 
recollect. I know, however, that in the years 
of my association with His Highness at least 
one building was added to the five which already 
composed the entire Castle. A melancholy, 
indeed, an eerie and forbidding spot — it was said 
formerly to have been the site of a Cistercian 
society of monks, and since the tragedy of 1889 
it has become the home of a sisterhood of Trappist 
nuns who daily offer up expiatory prayers for 
the crime that removed Rudolph of Habsburg. 
When the Cistercian body owned the place I 
do not know, but recollect to have heard that the 
old ex-Emperor Ferdinand I. had once expressed 
an intention, towards the end of his life, of retiring 
into the brotherhood which then occupied the 
Schloss. Apart from the melancholy aspect of 
the property, which is, moreover, a characteristic 



THE HUNTING-LODGE 257 

of most of the mountain estates of Lower Austria, 
Meyerling was a shooting lodge typical of the 
country, and the Archduke preferred it to any 
of the several more splendid boxes which lay 
within a radius of thirty miles, and which, as 
Crown property, were always at his disposal. 

The central dwelling was that occupied by 
Prince Rudolph, and consisted of the usual pieces, 
mostly broad and large rooms, though not lofty. 
There was a distinctly sporting suggestion, not 
unmixed with some fleeting idea of a farmhouse, 
or a trainer's residence, about the place, and if 
melancholy was the tone of the outside, a homely 
cheeriness was certainly that of the interior, 
while the simplicity of the entire Schloss was 
thoroughly in harmony with that marked un- 
affectedness which is salient in the Habsburg 
family, and which trait, indeed, I have found to 
be characteristic in the really high-placed in any 
country I am acquainted with. On the ground 
floor, and looking out upon the south-west portion 
of the estate, was the Archduke's unusually large 
sleeping-chamber — a hall rather than a room, 
and covered with heavily mounted sporting 
trophies of a hundred kinds. It had two large 
and lofty windows, shuttered, Tyrolese-fashion, 
from the outside, and between these windows, 
some twenty feet apart, was the broad oaken 
bedstead, four-posted and testered, but un- 
tapestried. At the north extremity of this 
chamber was a small study with one spacious 
window. To the right and left of the corridor 



258 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

from which the Archduke's private apartment 
opened, were dining and reception halls, as well 
as the offices of the steward, Loschek, who 
occasionally acted as body-servant to the Arch- 
duke in Vienna. 

This central dwelling was, I may add, the 
quietest of the group of houses which formed the 
Schloss, since it was occupied only by the Arch- 
duke, or by a possible guest, also by the steward, 
and was distant from the noise and bustle asso- 
ciated with the work of country establishments. 
The entire Castle and its various buildings were 
connected by a series of large and much be- 
trophied halls. The stabling and the harness- 
rooms were at the north of the Schloss, where 
never more than a dozen horses were stalled at 
any time. The Archducal parties rarely exceeded 
half-a-dozen guns ; sporting began usually about 
seven or half-past seven in the morning, and 
though his hours were more frequently on the 
irregular than on the regular side — for the 
exchange of ideas was the passion of his life, and 
he talked till all hours — the Prince was invariably 
the first to welcome his guests, and rarely missed 
the opportunity of a good morning's sport — a 
fact to which he attributed his splendid powers 
of recuperation, for, as I have told before, my 
master lived his life to the very full. 

* * # % * 

Having, on the night of our last symposium 
with the Archduke, said farewell to His Highness, 
I returned, since I was on leave, to my apartment 



A NOTE FROM THE PRINCE 259 

by the Hofgarten, where my man, Conrad Bratfisch, 
held the fort, as, humorous hind, he was himself 
accustomed to tell me. The morrow being 
Sunday, I rose late, and in the early afternoon, 
trained to Wagram, where lived, in villa retirement, 
an old Canon of St Stephen's, a distant kinsman, 
with whom I very occasionally passed an evening 
in pleasant conversation. Returning about mid- 
night, I retired immediately, nor woke till Conrad 
brought me a cup of coffee and the time — nearly 
ten, an unusually late hour for myself, an early 
riser. About noon on Monday two letters arrived 
simultaneously, one by special messenger from 
the Hofburg — his cousin Joseph Bratfisch, as my 
man at once informed me, for the Archduke was 
accustomed to call upon the immediate services 
of any favourite attendant who happened to be 
at hand. Taking the two letters, I immediately 
proceeded to read that which I easily recognised 
by the cachet and handwriting to be my master's, 
carelessly allowing the second letter to lose itself 
upon the table, which was already littered with 
papers and documents. 

The contents of the Archduke's were short and 
to the point ; he had decided not to spend Monday 
in town, but was proceeding that afternoon to 
Meyerling. I was instructed to procure several 
manuscripts from the Hofburg Library, dealing 
with literary work in which the Prince was then 
interested, and forward them on the morrow, by 
special messenger, to Meyerling. The Hofburg 
Library, is, I may say, a very impressive 



260 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

department of the motley congeries of buildings 
which form the Imperial Palace, and is, perhaps, 
the greatest princely library in Europe, containing, 
as it does, over one million volumes. It is, 
however, as well organised as any official or 
Government department in Vienna, and I was 
soon placed in possession of the desired documents, 
which were packed and prepared for dispatching. 
Charged with my manuscripts, I proceeded to 
visit my friend Wolfram at his quarters and, 
indeed, passed the rest of the day with him and 
his hospitable Christiane, returning home after 
midnight. 

Wolfram, I may add, had been made acquainted 
with the Archduke's discourse to myself on 
25th January, and had agreed with me that 
His Highness was probably the best judge of 
the situation, that any further interference in 
matters which were already officially provided 
for must be overstepping the bounds of our 
concern once we had been tacitly charged with 
a well-meant but unnecessary officiousness. In 
any case, Wolfram expressed an assurance that 
his Bocher ally in Berlin was certain not to fail 
him, and with the relieving agreement that our 
suspicions had probably been exaggerated, we 
bade each other good-night, myself returning to 
my apartments. At noon on the next day, 
Tuesday, I took the sudden resolution to spend 
the remainder of the week in the neighbourhood 
of Baden, a pine country which suited my con- 
stitution, and where I had previously, the occasion 



A DOUBLE SURPRISE 261 

offering, made short sojourns of two or three days 
— at Heiligen Kreuz, to be exact. At the same 
time I could dispatch the Archduke's manuscripts 
to Meyerling by my servant Bratfisch. The 
latter I ordered to prepare effects for a few days' 
stay at Heiligen Kreuz and follow me thither by 
the four-o'clock train. 

***** 

I arrived at the Southern Station a few minutes 
before the early afternoon train was due to leave, 
and, as I entered, had the surprise of seeing 
Madame Larricarda issue in her carriage from the 
direction of the departure platform. Her face, 
I thought, was rather flushed, but whether or not 
on account of this malencontre, I do not know, 
and now shall never know. Duly I took my 
ticket and a place in an empty compartment, 
the slow service, in the course of a halting per- 
formance, depositing me at Baden. Here another 
surprise awaited me, for on leaving the train I 
beheld, issuing from a compartment ahead of my 
own, the elegant figure of one whom I had long had 
reason to know. It was Mademoiselle Vetsera. 

In such a place and under such circumstances, 
I determined that my role should not seem to be 
that of a spy on the lady's movements, and so 
tarried while the little station was cleared of its 
few passengers. After some delay the wheels of 
a moving carriage made themselves heard, and 
supposing it to be a Meyerling equipage, I waited 
till the sound died away, and passed out at the 
gate. A fleeting glimpse of the conveyance, as it 



262 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

rolled off, told me that it was an ordinary hackney 
coach of the provincial type ; its direction was 
the road to Meyerling. 

There were no other vehicles in sight, and 
refusing the offer of a station official to procure 
one, I decided to walk to Heiligen Kreuz, the day 
being bright and clear, although extremely cold. 
Accordingly, I took the road north-westward, 
meditating my two surprises, and much absorbed 
in them — meditans nescio quid nugarum, et totus 
in Mis, as we used to say at Feldkirch. That 
Madame Larricarda had accompanied Made- 
moiselle Vetsera to the Southern Station, now 
seemed fairly clear. But why Madame Larricarda 's 
equipage — since the younger lady had a score of 
her father's at her own disposal ? And why the 
conjunction of these particular stars at this 
particular time, since, owing to her profuse 
hospitality to the Prussians during the past few 
months, Madame Larricarda had passed under 
an inevitable cloud ? And since Rudolph and 
Marie had ceased to meet at Madame Larricarda 's, 
the lady, I knew for fact, had broken off relations 
with her erstwhile hostess ; why then this sudden 
rapprochement ? And the flushed face of the 
Baroness as she left the station, with the startled 
and conscious look of the person who had seen 
yet pretends not to have seen — mystery. Think- 
ing this and much more along the route, I 
soon found myself slowing down in the pine groves 
that fringe the little townlet of Heiligen Kreuz, 
moving in meditative mood through the woods, 



AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE 263 

inhaling the balsam-tang'd air of the Tannenwald 
as I walked. Suddenly a boisterous greeting 
struck my ear, and looking up, I beheld the 
brown chalet known as the Gasthaus, with Herr 
Wirt himself, the landlord, advancing towards me, 
bare-headed and with an outstretched hand of 
welcome. I had sojourned several times before 
under his roof -tree, and we were good friends. 

" Salve, in Gottes Namen ! " he cried — the 
common sportsman's greeting in these parts. 
" I kiss your hand. A hundred welcomes, Herr 
Sekretar — but " — and he whispered it solemnly — 
" we had a great company here yesterday — the 
very Crown Prince Rudolph himself. You are all 
conspiring to heap honour on my old age." 

" Silentium, Wirt," I returned, in another 
sportsman's term when the guns are creeping, 
" silence, my dear Wirt ; but His Highness does 
not come here frequently, does he ? " 

" The first time for two years — alas ! " the 
landlord replied, " and then only because his 
carriage broke down in the cursed road — no, I 
mean the blessed road, for it gave me the blessing 
of his presence," and the old sportsman gave 
lung to his jollity as only the pine-woodsmen can. 
" The Archduke helped his coachmen to extricate 
the carriage from a ditch ; then all came up to 
slake their thirst. And they drank of the best, 
as you shall." 

" Wirt," I replied, " I will take my old rooms 
and remain with you till the close of the week. 
The Archduke returns from Meyerling on Saturday 



264 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

or Sunday next. My man Bratfisch arrives this 
evening with effects." 

" Bratfisch ? " questioned the Wirt, " but we 
had Bratfisch here yesterday with His Highness — 
Joseph Bratfisch." 

" Well, my man is Conrad Bratfisch — they are 
cousins, Wirt," I explained. 

" Ah, so ? But, Herr Sekretar, you look well, 
and are a thousand times welcome to my house," 
said the old man, as he showed me into the chalet 
hall. 

w w w w w 

The Gasthaus prided itself on the special 
excellence of its cellar, and its Tokay was certainly 
of a superior brand, as I already knew, and a rare 
drink in cold weather. In ordering a bottle, 
therefore, with my evening meal, I was fully 
prepared for a lengthy disquisition from my Wirt 
on the virtues of this particular cuvee, and was 
not surprised when, in accordance with the ritual 
of Austrian sporting landlords, my host appeared 
in person to dust, draw and serve his precious 
wine. 

" My cellar has been badly depleted during 
the past week, Herr Sekretar," he commented. 
" I have had four guests here from a country 
towards which I have never been well disposed. 
I mean Prussia — my four gentlemen came from 
Berlin, and had they known of my Tokay, I fear 
I should now have none to offer you ; for in 
truth, they have nearly drunk me dry." 

" Prussians here in Heiligen Kreuz ! " I re- 



A PRUSSIAN CONTINGENT 265 

marked, with some surprise. " And what doing, 
Wirt ? Vienna is overrun with them in these 
days." 

" Well," he replied, " they said but little about 
themselves, explaining only that they were going 
farther afield after game. They left only this 
morning, and I can assure you I was not sorry to 
see the last of them — a noisy, overbearing and 
quarrelsome kind. No, I do not like them, 
though we speak the same language." 

" Of course they told you where they were 
going to ? " I suggested. 

" No, indeed, Excellency," replied the land- 
lord simply; "and I am so pleased to be rid of 
them that I do not at all care. They took the 
northern road, and had they not left here to-day 
I might have been forced to suggest a change of 
scene to them. Rough-housing is hardly strong 
enough for the way they used the place — drinking, 
swearing, singing, card-playing, firing off their 
guns in the open, insulting the house-women — 
oh, but I am glad they have left, I can tell you, 
Herr Sekretar." 

" They saw His Highness yesterday, of course ? " 
I inquired. 

" Gott sei Dank, nein, Herr Sekretar. Fortun- 
ately they were over in Baden when His Highness 
arrived. They returned for the evening meal and 
tendered their very welcome notice." And the 
old man's commercial instincts asserting them- 
selves, he added, with a grin : " Like true 
Prussians, they quarrelled about the bill, in order 



266 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

to find an excuse not to tip the servants. It is 
an old trick of the Prussians." 

Having concluded my meal, I invited the 
landlord to keep me company while we smoked 
over the great log-fire. He had been a corporal 
of the Imperial Leib Garde, and previously had 
seen service in the war against Prussia in 1866 ; 
a noted sportsman, he had trapped wolf and bear 
and shot white eagle in the Styrian Alps and 
been one of the corps of guides that accompanied 
the Archduke on his memorable hunting trip 
down the Danube to the Iron Gates. 

" His Majesty Kaiser Franz, God preserve him," 
and the old fellow rose as he uttered this pious 
ejaculation, "once honoured this old room, with 
Prince Furstenburg and Prince Kinsky, when 
he hunted from the Palace at Baden. I waited 
on him as he drank my own home-brew and 
smoked his black cigars in that very chair. I am 
an older man than His Majesty by six years — 
was born in '24 — but he never comes this way 
now, and I have not seen him since the funeral 
of old Kaiser Ferdinand, in whose Body Guard 
I served for four years, and afterwards in the 
present Emperor's for three. It is my opinion, 
Herr Sekretar, that all is not well with old Austria. 
The country seems to be owned by those Prussians, 
and you find them everywhere nowadays. They 
are worse than the Jews, in truth ; for at least 
your Jew fights in the open, and as every man 
of sense knows that a Jew means to cheat him 
if he can, why, he is a fool who overdeals with him, 



THE WITCH OF ALLAND 267 

or takes him for a friend. But those Prussians 
are like snakes without a rattle, and possess you 
before you are aware of their presence." 

" Better times are ahead of us, however, my 
dear Wirt," I remarked dreamily, for in truth 
I was wondering why Bratfisch had not yet 
reported himself. " We have high hopes of the 
Crown Prince, as you know." 

" So be it, Excellenz," replied the old man; 
" but you remember the prophecy of the old 
witch of Alland near by ? " 

" No, indeed, Wirt ; I have never heard of it," 
I answered. 

" The old lady, who must have seen over a 
century, is dead now — God rest her," explained 
the landlord. " She used to come over here every 
week for her three black loaves and a slice of 
game, which were always at her disposal, poor 
creature. She foretold me the early death of my 
only children. She was here the day our Kaiser 
Franz arrived with Prince Furstenburg and Prince 
Kinsky, and it was then she made her prophecy. 
Like all very old persons, she presumed on her 
many years, and as the Kaiser was leaving the 
chalet approached him and made a deep reverence. 

" ' Was willst, alte Mutter ? ' asked His Majesty, 
amused at the hardihood of the ancient dame. 

"'I would read your hand, Majesty,' she 
replied. 

" ' Gewisz — certainly,' said the ever-friendly 
Kaiser Franz, and readily presented his hand. 

" The old creature gazed for a moment at the 



268 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

open palm, while all around stood silent. And 
having gazed, she made another reverence as if 
to withdraw. 

" ' But,' cried the laughing Emperor, ' you have 
told me nothing. What says my hand, alte 
Mutter ? ' and he presented his palm once more. 

" 4 Seventy full years of kingship to your 
Majesty,' the old lady read. ' Yet three great 
sorrows. But the end is glorious — and the 
Emperors of Germany will again reign in Vienna.' ' 

With many reminiscences of his sporting and 
military days, the old Wirt regaled me as the 
clock crept on to midnight, at which hour, 
Bratfisch having not yet arrived, I decided to 
retire. 

" My man, as you see, Wirt, has disappointed 
me," I said. " Unfortunately the fellow drinks 
at times, but as he is an excellent servant other- 
wise, I overlook this particular shortcoming. 
Doubtless he will arrive later. In the meantime, 
I require rest, and as my effects have not come, 
you will understand, my dear Wirt, that you can 
oblige me in a matter of some importance : can 
you lend me a night-shirt ? " 

This simple request appeared to tickle my land- 
lord exceedingly, for the old man vented his sense 
of comedy in a lungful roar. Having escorted 
me to my room, supplied me with the required 
sleeping apparel and bade me a good night, the 
Wirt consigned me to very welcome slumber. 
***** 

I had decided, as I often do when alone, to 



CONRAD A LATE-COMER 269 

indulge my English tastes while sojourning at 
the Gasthaus, and had ordered breakfast for 
nine o'clock. My man Conrad had not as yet, 
much to my surprise, made his appearance. 
Hardly, however, had I touched my toasted bacon 
and eggs when the landlord knocked at the 
sitting-room door and announced the arrival of 
my servant. Clearly he had had a night of it, 
if appearances counted for anything. I was glad, 
at all events, to see the rascal safe. 

" Well, Conrad," I said, with affected sarcasm, 
" this is a pleasure which is overdue by a dozen 
hours. Account for yourself." 

" Unfortunately, sir," he explained, with a grin, 
" all the appearances are against me. The truth 
is, however, I lost the evening train to Baden 
yesterday, and had to take the last from Vienna 
— at eleven o'clock. At midnight in Baden I 
could get no trap, as all but one of the hostelries 
had closed by that hour. I decided therefore to 
leave your luggage at the Station " 

" Conrad," I objected reprovingly, " you must 
distinctly remember my telling you that I ex- 
pected you to deliver the small packet at Meyerling 
to His Highness. It should have been there 
yesterday." 

" It is there now, sir," he returned. "I have 
just tramped over from Meyerling." 

" So-ho ? And by whose authority did you 
proceed to Meyerling ? " I asked; in some astonish- 
ment, although relieved that the Hofburg manu- 
scripts had been delivered. 



270 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

" When I decided to leave your luggage — 
which I could not have carried so far — at Baden 
Station, I fortunately remembered the packet for 
His Highness, and brought it with me, expecting 
to get a conveyance here, so that I might deliver 
it at the Lodge," explained Conrad. 

" My own requirements, of course, counted for 
nothing, you rascal," I commented. 

" Excuse me, sir," he went on, with a broad 
grin, " but the last time we stayed here we left 
a night-shirt behind. I thought, perhaps " 

" Du Heiliger Hubertus — aber der Kerl hat 
Becht — the fellow is right," cried the landlord, 
with a quick laugh. " I had quite forgotten it." 

" Go on, Conrad," I urged. " What happened 
after Baden ? " 

" Well," he explained, " I decided to walk over, 
and first had a few drinks. It was rather cold, 
you will acknowledge, sir ; so I took a small 
bottle of Kirsch with me. About two miles 
outside Baden I came upon the Gabelung, where 
the roads divide, and forgot the instructions given 
me at Baden. In order to refresh my memory, 
I took a pull at the Kirsch and " 

" — and, of course, took the easiest road — 
the road going downhill," the landlord interposed, 
with a laugh. 

" Unfortunately, Herr Wirt, that is so," 
admitted Bratfisch candidly. " I took the lower 
road and kept on walking, meeting no one, nor 
seeing a lighted house along the way. After 
about two hours' walk, I found myself skirting 



EARLY ADVENTURERS 271 

a pine-wood, and well recollecting the Tannenwald 
of this neighbourhood, was certain I was in the 
right direction. Encouraged by this reflection, 
I continued on the outskirts of the wood, having 
had another pull at the flask, and kept on walking 
— uphill, all the way, for perhaps another hour, 
when I suddenly came upon the end of the wood 
where a narrow pathway leads downward " 

" — to the end of the road which you should 
have taken at first. You were near Purkerdorf 
or Petersdorf, man ; twelve miles from Heiligen 
Kreuz as the crow flies — well on to Vienna," 
explained the landlord. 

" Fortunately," Conrad proceeded, "as I waited 
here and looked at my watch, which pointed to 
close upon three o'clock, early trappers, with 
guns slung, came down the pathway. When I 
inquired for the Cross they laughed, telling me it 
was ten miles through the woods. They gave 
me a choice of the nearest places — Alland, six 
miles away, or else Meyerling, three to four. I 
remembered the packet and decided for Meyerling 
— late though it was, proceeding with the two 
hunters down to the high road, which here leads 
into the valley. They pointed out the dim lights 
about two to three miles distant. 

" ' That is Meyerling Schloss,' said one, ' but 
by the time you get there all will be abed. You 
had better walk down with us to the Black Eagle. 
There you may rest, perhaps, till daylight. We 
go by there.' 

" I accompanied them to the Black Eagle, 



272 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

lying on the left as we reach the vale, and here 
I entered, the trappers proceeding on their way. 
He was a bad-tempered man who admitted me 
at the Black Eagle." 

" Old Franz Ernst — I believe you," the land- 
lord commented. " But was it not a fat fellow 
who admitted you ? " 

" Yes," my man replied ; " very thick, and with, 
a great black beard. My oath, but he could use 
bad language." 

" Old Kurt," explained the Wirt ; " he was with 
me here ten years." 

"Well, sir," proceeded Bratfisch, "the inn 
was full for the game season. There was room 
nowhere except in the hotel parlour. My grumbler 
objected, however, that they were strangers just 
arrived from Petersdorf and going forward for a 
morning's sport, and might object to my presence. 
Nevertheless, as I ordered a bottle, he would 
ask their permission — which was granted. I 
entered the parlour, where four hunters were 
sleeping, fully dressed, three of them in chairs 
and one on a couch. They were not pleased at 
my arrival, I can assure you, since I woke them 
from their sleep ; but as I said nothing, and sat 
drinking by the fire, they were silent. I soon 
fell a-dozing myself, and in an hour or so the four 
sleepers prepared to go, and soon had left the inn. 
Shortly afterwards, and as the fire was burning 
out, I decided to leave the place and make for 
Meyerling, deliver my packet, and return along 
the high road to Heiligen Kreuz. As I was 



AN INTERESTING PORTRAIT 273 

leaving the parlour, I noticed a small wallet lying 
close by a chair on which one of the hunters had 
been sleeping ; picking it up, I reflected that it 
was dropped by one of the gentlemen, and placed 
it in my great-coat pocket, intending to give it 
to the house-man, but as we had a little argument 
about the price of my bottle, I forgot to do so. 
Here is the wallet," said Conrad, producing a 
worn pocket-book; "only a couple of portraits — 
the owner and his young lady, I presume." 

The landlord and myself looked at the portraits 
— one that of a typical German girl, the other 

"But," cried the landlord, "this is one of my 
guests of last week — the noisiest of the gang, too, 
and a quick drinker. Look, Herr Sekretar," and 
he handed me the portrait. 

I had finished my breakfast and was lighting 
a cigar, but had reason, nevertheless, to be 
interested in this particular specimen of the 
photographic art. It was the picture of the 
Prussian who had been so offensive towards me 
at Madame Larricarda's on the previous Friday. 

Having satisfied myself by close scrutiny that 
this was really my unfriendly acquaintance, I 
requested Conrad to proceed. 

" It was just breaking light, sir," he went on, 
" when I left the Black Eagle Inn, but the road 
was in fairly good condition, and I soon covered 
the ground between myself and Meyerling Lodge. 
It was quite near six o'clock when I reached the 
Schloss, and as I made for the gates, passed four 
hunters with guns slung, whom I easily recognised, 



274 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

from their speech, to be my four companions of 
the Black Eagle. Passing by the Lodge entrance, 
I picked my way to the stables at the rear, where, 
as I expected, I found my cousin JosephVthen just 
rising, with the intention of calling His Highness. 
Naturally, he was astonished at m^y early visit, 
and gave me a cup of hot coffee, while I explained 
the adventure which had brought me to Meyerling 
at that untimely hour. His suggestion that I 
should wait till His Highness had left for his 
morning's sport, when he would drive me back, 
I refused to accept, since I was anxious to return 
to Heiligen Kreuz as soon as possible and explain 
my absence. The coffee had revived me, and as 
the day would soon break clear I felt equal to 
the journey back. Entrusting my packet, accord- 
ingly, to Joseph, and taking his directions for the 
route to be followed, I bade him adieu, and — here 
I am, sir. As I left the grounds, I was hailed by 
Mr Loschek, prowling near the gates. They are 
early birds at Meyerling evidently. He does not 
know me. I explained that I was the cousin of 
Joseph and, as he asked no further questions, 
passed quickly along. When two miles on my 
way the sound of two sharp rifle-shots struck 
upon my ear, and I knew the day's sport had 
begun." 



CHAPTER XX 

The Pine-woods round Heiligen Kreuz — An Unexpected Rencontre — 
Dr Widerhofer of Vienna — He announces the Murder of the 
Archduke and Marie Vetsera — How Baden got the News — We 
go on to the Lodge — Some Official Declarations and Dis- 
crepancies — Joseph Bratfisch's Statements — An Impromptu En- 
tertainment — The Morning of 30th January — Bratfisch and his 
Master — How the Bodies were found — I visit the Death-chamber 
— My Importance ceases — A Conversation with Bratfisch — The 
Alleged Letters of Prince Rudolph — My Wirt arrives — I return 
to Heiligen Kreuz — A Sad Special to Vienna — Burial of the 
Crown Prince Rudolph — Koinoff s Last Letter 

Having dismissed niy servant Conrad to a well- 
earned breakfast, and given orders to the land- 
lord to have my traps fetched from the station at 
Baden, I prepared for a few hours' excursion 
through the pine-woods, which from the Gasthaus 
run for about two miles back on the Heiligen Kreuz 
road, and form the arc of a circle, the far extremity 
of which about touches the Gabelung where the 
route divides. On leaving the chalet about 
half -past ten, I promised my Wirt, not caring to 
lunch alone, that I should be back betimes to 
share his table d'hote, and struck out through the 
forest with the intention of gaining the Baden 
route and returning by the highway — a walk of 
about six miles. The morning was bright and 
inviting, the bridle-paths clear, and as I covered 
the ground the song of the industrious woodman 
and the music of his axe reminded me of the 
275 



276 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

welcome fact that Vienna was far distant and 
myself on holiday. 

It had been my intention to question Bratfisch 
more closely as to the personages staying at the 
Lodge over at Meyerling, but forbore from doing 
so, not so much on account of the presence of 
our Wirt as for thereason that Conrad, who knew 
nothing of the arrival of Mademoiselle Vetsera 
at Baden on the previous afternoon, could hardly 
have learned of the lady's being at Meyerling 
during his short interview in the early morning 
with his cousin, Joseph Bratfisch, who, it was 
tolerably certain, moreover, would hardly have 
disclosed the fact. And whistling as I tramped, 
for want of thought, as some English poet puts 
it, I reached the extremity of the Tannenwald, 
debouching on the Baden road, where I continued 
walking, meaning to retrace my steps from the 
Gabelung. As I reached this point a pair-horsed 
cab turned the bend and passed me at so terrific 
a rate that it well-nigh overturned at the junction 
of the roads, and for the moment its progress was 
arrested. A pale face peered from the carriage, 
and at once I recognised the Archduke's body- 
physician, Doctor Widerhofer, who immediately 
acknowledged my salute. 

" God in heaven," he cried, as I approached the 
vehicle, " but tell me what has happened ? " 

" Happened ? " I questioned, already alarmed 
at his evident anguish. " What can you mean, 
Doctor ? " 

" Jump in and come on with me," he urged, as 



THE DOCTOR'S STORY 277 

the coachman whipped up the horses. " Have 
you not heard — the Archduke is dead — found 
murdered at the Lodge between seven and eight 
o'clock this morning ! But I thought you were 
with His Highness ? " 

I could find no words to express my horror at 
this terrible news, which my mind refused at first 
to credit. 

" Murder — the Archduke — oh, Doctor — surely 
you dream ? " were the only words I could utter, 
as I flung myself back in the carriage. 

" It is no dream, friend — no dream, alas ! " he 
wailed. "I have come by telegraphic summons. 
How far are we from the Lodge ? " 

I paid no attention to the question, but snatched 
the telegram from his hand and read. 

" This does not say he is dead," I began, 
" only an accident " 

" No ; but the news is already at Baden," cried 
the Doctor. " He is dead, and with him his 
woman. At first the people heard it was the 
Archduchess. The coachman knows — it was 
Mademoiselle Vetsera." , 

I looked at my watch, which indicated fifteen y 
minutes past noon. 

" I will go on with you, in God's name," I said ; 
" we can make the Schloss by one o'clock." 
***** 

It is hardly necessary for me to do more than 
give the details of a story which moved the 
emotion of the civilised world in its time. At the 
investigation which was subsequently held by a 



278 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

commission composed of Councillors Claudy and 
Westermayer, Doctors Widerhofer and Mukleiten 
and Captain Oser, the facts were given to the 
public in the following way : — 

The Archduke had not hunted on Tuesday, 
29th January, although his companions, Prince 
Philip of Coburg and Count Hoyos, had spent the 
morning in the forest. Late after noon Made- 
moiselle Vetsera had unexpectedly arrived at 
the Schloss, and passed the remainder of the 
evening with the gentlemen. The servant Joseph 
Bratfisch, a favourite of the Archduke, was 
summoned towards midnight to the company's 
presence, and bidden, for want of more expert 
artists, to regale the party with the latest 
music hall songs from Vienna. Bratfisch, like 
many of the Viennese serving-men, was a capital 
singer and an unusually clever whistler, possessing 
in this latter capacity an inimitable gift of render- 
ing the song of birds — a great recommendation 
to the Archduke, who was a noted student of 
bird life. It was not denied that much wine had 
been drunk during the night. All concerned 
retired after two o'clock in the morning — the 
Archduke and the lady to the sleeping-chamber 
on the ground .floor. 

At this point the improbable and untenable 
make their appearance : 

It was stated that on retiring at two a.m., the 
Archduke, already flown with drink, deliberately 
sat down at the desk in his little study hard by, 
and indited letters — the serious and solemn last 



WHAT BRATFISCH TOLD 279 

letters of a man who is bent on self-destruction — 
to his mother, the Empress Elizabeth, to Kaiser 
Franz Josef, to the Crown Princess Stephanie, 
to the Prince of Braganza, and to the Police 
Commissioner of Vienna, Szoegyeni. All these 
letters were said to have been found on an open 
table, while in his correspondence, or ready-mail 
basket, was afterwards found a letter addressed 
to his friend and editorial guide, Weilen, promising 
to complete a piece of literary work already 
begun, a sketch entitled Godollo. 

The servant Bratfisch stated that about the 
regular hour for preparing for the chase, six-forty- 
five A.M., he had, as instructed, called the Archduke, 
who ordered him to draw the curtains of the window 
to the left of the Prince's bed, with a view to seeing 
how the weather promised. On the Archduke pro- 
nouncing it too dark for sport, Bratfisch retired. 
It was held that the Archduke and his mistress 
committed suicide between seven and eight a.m., 
both being discovered dead at the latter hour. 
It was also stated, for the benefit of the public, 
that, while the lady had taken strychnine, the 
Prince had shot himself with a revolver in the 
left temple — two statements which took no account 
oi the facts that the Prince was also said to have 
been found lying on his right side — with his back 
exposed to the window on the left of the couch — 
while the girl's body was declared to have been 
found reclining as if normally at rest, a condition 
altogether inconsistent with death by strychnine, 
which distorts the frame. 



280 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

A common statement — in vogue in that region 
to this day — has it that the Prince was shot 
through the heart and from behind, a view which 
would coincide with the first statement — namely, 
that the body had been found lying on the right 
side. The same tradition holds that Mademoiselle 
Vetsera was shot through the left temple — a view 
entirely coinciding with the assumption that the 
window to the left of the couch had been opened, 
and the sleepers murdered. 

* * * * * 

On our arrival at the Lodge, Doctor Widerhofer 
was admitted at once to the chamber of the Arch- 
duke, where the body was already laid out, that 
of Mademoiselle Vetsera having been removed to 
an adjoining room, where it was disposed on a couch 
and completely hidden with a plain white coverlet, 
pending the arrival of relatives, who had at once 
been summoned. Two candles were burning in 
the darkened room, and nuns from some neigh- 
bouring convent were already holding the vigil. 
Although I entered the girl's death-chamber, I was 
prevented, from the position of the table, which 
ran lengthwise with the couch, from closay 
observing the body. 

On his issuing from the dead Prince's chamber, 
accompanied by Count Hoyos, I sought a woid 
with Doctor Widerhofer, who, however, only shock 
his head mournfully and passed into the second 
room. Already I was being allowed to feel that, 
my master having gone, my own importance had 
also ceased. Count Hoyos left the Lodge shortly 



IN THE DEATH-CHAMBER 281 

afterwards, and eventually conveyed the news 
to the Empress Elizabeth. Count Bombelles, I 
afterwards learned, was the official chosen to give 
the tragic tidings to the Archduke's consort. 

Already, by the early afternoon, men, women 
and children, of all classes and from every village 
in the Crown land territories, were quickly con- 
gregating in the Lodge grounds, all of them as if 
stricken by the loss of a dear friend, and many of 
them giving vent to their tears. Among those 
who drove in from the outlying parts was my 
landlord of Heiligen Kreuz, who, with some vague 
idea of serving me, after the news had spread, had 
allowed my man Conrad to accompany him. This 
was fortunate, and I instructed Bratfisch to 
ascertain the particulars as to the arrival of 
Mademoiselle Vetsera, on the previous day, from 
his cousin Joseph, an excellent servant who would 
have given his life for the Crown Prince. 

About four o'clock I took my last look at 
the Archduke Rudolph, in whose large sleeping- 
chamber a chapelle ardente had swiftly been 
prepared, several nuns and two priests being 
present in prayer. The face was peaceful, and 
hardly more pale than in life. The forehead 
was bound at the temples with bandages, on 
which, however, no trace of wound-discoloration 
appeared. On the coverlet, over the breast, lay 
a silver crucifix, and lighted candelabra lined 
each side of the death-bed. Softly the religious 
were intoning the Litany for the Dead. 

As no preparations had been made for my stay 



282 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

at the Lodge, and on Loschek assuring me that 
the residence would be full for that night, I 
decided to accept my landlord's suggestion of 
returning to Heiligen Kreuz with him, reflecting 
that, however reluctant I might feel to abandon 
my dead master, the only black wearing apparel 
I had was at the old Gasthaus. It had already 
been arranged that the body should be taken 
on the morrow — the last day of January — by 
special train, to Vienna, which I was to accom- 
pany, according to the instructions of Hoyos, as 
one of the principal mourners. 

Before leaving the Schloss I took care to hear 
from Joseph Bratfisch particulars regarding the 
visit of Mademoiselle Vetsera. 

" But," explained Bratfisch, " His Highness 
never expected the lady. Her arrival was the 
surprise of his life, since he had ordered me 
to prepare his study for work he intended to 
do." 

" And did she make no explanations ? ' : I 
inquired. 

" The lady assured His Highness more than 
twice within my hearing, yesterday afternoon, 
that she had come on receipt of a letter from the 
Archduke requesting her to do so, and even pro- 
duced the note, which His Highness tossed 
carelessly aside, declaring that though it resembled 
his handwriting, he had written no letter. Never- 
theless, he was not displeased to see her, and " — 
he added reflectively — " they had at least a happy 
last afternoon together." 



THE RETURN TO VIENNA 283 

" And as to the other letters — did you see 
them, and to whom were they addressed ? " was 
my next question. 

Bratfisch gave me the names of the personages 
to whom the letters found had been addressed, 
assuring me that he had seen them on the table 
when the door had been burst open, but had not 
noted them before. 

" And when did His Highness write them, think 
you, Bratfisch ? " I asked. 

" That is to me a mystery," he replied, shrugging 
his shoulders, " unless they were written between 
the hour six-forty-five, when I first called His 
Highness, and eight o'clock. It is, indeed, doubt- 
ful, sir, and you will perhaps understand it, when I 
say that it is unlikely he could have written them 
after retiring to his apartment early this morn- 
ing. But, of course," he added thoughtfully, 
"early morn is the suicide's hour, as we always 
say in Vienna." And he then went on to de- 
scribe the position of the bodies when they were 
found. 

In due course I returned to Heiligen Kreuz, 
and on the morrow proceeded, as arranged, to 
Vienna, with the mortuary train, where the body 
was received by Kaiser Franz. I was also among 
those who attended the obsequies at the old 
Capuchin Church; where the Archduke Rudolph 
was laid among his forbears — the one-hundred- 
and-fourteenth Habsburger gathered in that 
ancient crypt, with eleven Emperors, fourteen 
Empresses, a King of Rome — Napoleon's son — 



284 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

two Queens, twenty-seven Archdukes, fifty-four 
Archduchesses, two Dukes and two Electors. 
***** 

I had, on returning to Vienna, proceeded to 
my chambers by the Hofgarten, and here among 
my papers found the second of the two letters 
which Conrad had delivered to me, as I related, 
on the Monday on which my master had pro- 
ceeded to Meyer ling. It came from Koinoff, and 
was dated Thurdsay, 24th January, from the 
Angel Hotel, at Liverpool, whence he declared 
he was about to sail for the United States, to 
begin life under new circumstances. Money, he 
admitted, had proved too great a temptation for 
his power of resistance, and he had, towards the 
end, engaged in the adventure of playing the 
double spy. The letter concluded with a piece of 
advice which was now of no avail : 

" Keep your closest attention on the Archduke's 
lower household," he wrote. " Any harm that 
comes to His Highness will be the work of persons 
near him who are in close collusion with Berlin." 



EPILOGUE 

It will be remembered that the banishment of 
several persons took place as a result of the 
inquiry into the circumstances which culminated 
in the tragedy of Meyerling, over which, I need 
hardly add, a veil of inscrutable mystery has per- 
sistently hung, and anent which several versions 
are still current — even in Austria-Hungary. 

It will also be within the recollection of well- 
informed persons that while a man so closely 
in touch with European diplomatic circles as the 
late Mr Labouchere absolved the late Prince 
Bismarck, the Chancellor, of complicity in any 
conspiracy which sought to remove the Crown 
Prince Rudolph from the path of Prussian am- 
bitions (Truth, March, 1889), he made no attempt 
to extend this absolution to more aggressive 
representatives of Pan-Germanism in Berlin. 

A well-known English authority on contem- 
porary Germanic history, while committing him- 
self to no definite accusation against anyone, in the 
case of the death of the Austrian Crown Prince, 
admits the opinion to have been current through- 
out the diplomatic services of Europe that the 
"enemies of the House of Habsburg" counted 
for a factor in the tragic episode of Meyerling. 

Encyclopaedic works of unquestioned import- 
ance have expressed a similar view, while reliable 
285 



286 LAST DAYS OF ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH 

French writers have held the opinion that these 
enemies of the House of Habsburg sought, by 
taking advantage of the Archduke's unfortunate 
liaison with Mademoiselle Vetsera, as well as of 
his tendency to a pronounced liberalism in his 
religious views, to create in Vatican circles a 
feeling hostile to the Dual Monarchy — all to the 
furtherance of Prussian political ambitions. 

For my part, I have presented, in their proper 
place in the narrative, the political aspects of the 
case, and am convinced that those who possess 
intimate knowledge of the anti-Habsburg bias in 
Prussia of the later eighties, as well as of the 
trends of Prussian militaristic world-policy of 
that period, will support my presentment of the 
intrigue in its salient features. 

The so-called "Baroness Larricarda " was 
among those banished by Imperial edict. At the 
same time two members of princely families, 
whose names it is now needless to mention, were 
exiled from Austria -Hungary. The man Loschek 
was also expelled the dominions. 

And here my task ends. 



INDEX 



CONTAINING NAMES INCIDENTALLY MENTIONED IN CONNECTION WITH 
THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS 



Abenken, Herr, 161 

" Abington," Mr, 37 

Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, 34 

Ajaccio, 149 

Amorites, 175 

Angel Hotel, Liverpool, 284 

Archimedes, 251 

Aristotle, 77 

Augusta, Empress, 199 

Aurelius, Emperor, 205 

Ayrshire, racer, 179 

Baden, 255 

Baltazzi, Mr A., 97 

Bancke, Dr, 159 

Bavaria, 229 

Beneverito, 18 

Berlin, 189 

Bernhardi, Baron, 162 

Bismarck-Bohlen, Count, 74 

Bismarck, Herbert, 74 

Bohemia, 155 

Bombelles, Count, 31 passim 

BratfLsch, Conrad, 32 \ ^ / t 

Bratfisch, Joseph, 32 J * 

Buckle, historian, 149' 

Busch, Moritz, 75 

Capuchin Church, Vienna, 162 
Catherine II., 160 
Chamberlain, Mr Houston S., 175 
Charles V., 22 
Chetwynd, Sir Geo., 97 
Claudy, Councillor, 278 
Conscience, Henri, 252 
Cornhill Magazine, 234 
Cromwell, 205 

Davis, Mr, 37 
Dilke, Sir Charles, 31 
Donovan, racer, 179 
Duchesne, Bishop, 106 

287' 



Emerson, R. W., 233 
Erdody, Count, 36 

Feldkirch, school, 19 
Ferdinand I., Emperor, 209 
Four Hundred, New York, 116 
Frederick, Emperor, 52 passim 
Frederick the Great, 48 
Fry, Mr, 52 
Furstenburg, Prince, 266 

Galimberti, Cardinal, 118 
Gallifet, General de, 125 
Gamecock, racer, 36 
Gladstone, Mr, 162 
Goethe, 252 

Haake, Dr, 198 

Hamburger Nachrichten, 162 

Hamlet, 244 

Harden, Herr, 49 

Heiligen Kreuz, 255 

Heine, poet, 19 

Henry IV., Emperor, 80 

Hildebrand (Gregory VII.), 201 

Hofburg Library, 260 

Hoyos, Count, 29 passim • 

Huttenberg, 18 

Jansenists, 67 
Johnson, Dr, 21 
Jokai, M., 78 
Julius Caesar, 205 



Karolyi, Count, 38 
Kingsclere, 97 
Kinsky, Bn., 36 
Kinsky, Prince, 266 
Kisber, racer, 97 
Krause, Herr, i< 
Kulturkampf, 80 



?3 , V^</ 



£& 



3 6 6 9 



288 1 INDEX 

La Valliere, Madame, ioi 
Laxenburg Castle, 62 
Leo XIII., Pope, 29 
Lincolnshire Handicap, 33 
Lombardini family, 18 
London, changes in, 121 
Louis XIV., 101 
Louis XV., 92 
Ludwig, King, 242 

Mackenzie, Sir M., 52 
Manning, Cardinal, 19 
Marie Louise, Empress, 213 
Meissonier, painter, 252 
Milan, King, 29 
Modernism, 89 
Moliere, 252 

Montespan, Madame de, 101 
Montrose, Duchess of, 33 
Mukleiten, Doctor, 278 

Napoleon I., 40 passim I 
Neumann, Baron, 115 

Oberon, racer, 33 
Octavian (Augustus), 205 
Orloff, Demetrius, 73 
Orsini family, 18 
Oser, Captain, 278 

Paget, Sir Augustus, 61 
Pan-Germanism, 48 
Papenberg, Angela, 207 
Peter the Great, 177 
Petri, Secret Service man, 69 ^ / 
Philip of Coburg, Prince, 224 
Pompadour, Madame de, 113 
Porter, Mr John, 97 
Portland, Duke of, 179 
Potocki, Count A., 37 
Prussia, Prince Henry of, 150 
passim. 













Raskolnik, 88 
Rhodes, Cecil, 76 
Richelieu, 246 
Rocca della, family, 19 
Roederer, 230 
Rokososki, Sigismund, 58 
Rokososki, Stanislas, 58 
Roquefort, racer, 136 

Saxony, Augustus of, 91 
Social Democracy, 231 
Stael, Madame de, 106 
Stanley, Sir Henry, 76 
Stapleton family, 18 
Stonyhurst, school, 19 
Stundists, 88 
Suffield, Lord, 40 
Suetonius, 91 
Sykes, Mr C, 40 
Szoegyeni, Commissioner, 210 

Tenebreuse, racer, 216 
Thackeray, W. M., 135 
The Last Phase, 40 
Tiberius, Emperor, 205 
Too Good, racer, 36 
Trentino, 28 
Tugendbund, 86 

Veracity, racer, 216 
Veto, Austrian, 84 
Vetsera family, 96 passim 
Victoria, Crown Princess, 55 
Victoria, Queen, 127 
Viereck, Anna, 207 
Voltaire, 22 passim 

Wagner, 248 

Waldersee, von, 144 

Weininger, Doctor, 131 

Widerhofer, Doctor, 277 

Wilczek, Herr, 115 

Wilhelm L, Emperor, 41 passim 

" Wittelsbach, Herr," 31 



^ 



h*7) 



